You Don't Even Know
by Santana2
Summary: Set after "Things Change" We all saw what happened to Terra but now it's happening again. There is more to this story. 1st Fic Suck at summaries.Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I am rewriting this story. **Maybe. You can read this version if you want but I'm pretty sure I want to rewrite it. The new one may not be any better, but I really want to try this again. This is just too full of short-comings (on my part, of course) for me to feel good about it. The rewrite (if I can find the time to really concentrate on it) is the same concept and the same cross over ( that's another thing, I'll file that one correctly).

So, here's hopin'.

* * *

You Don't Even Know

Batman was spending more and more time in the Justice League's watch tower. Superman knew why.

Bruce would _never_ admit it to _anyone _for as long as he lived, but the could only take so much quiet. The man never thought he would really miss the constant interruptions that made tedious case work that much longer. He never thought he would see the day he actually wanted someone to talk nonstop about nothing at all.

What Batman, what Bruce, wanted was his little boy.

Granted Robin was fifteen by now and not so little anymore. But still.

"Diana, do you have any idea what this is?" Clark showed Wonder Woman a piece of paper with something illegible scrawled on it. (Probably Flash's doing, really he needed to take up typing.)

Currently it was only Clark, Diana, and Bruce in the tower's main computer room, doing the necessary paper shuffling that came with crime fighting. Bruce moving at a much faster pace than the others.

Before Wonder Woman could answer, though, the mammoth supercomputer signaled a call coming in.

Clark, immensely grateful for the interruption, jumped up to get it.

When he typed in the password to answer though he was faced with . . . the back of someone's head. They appeared to be speaking to someone out of frame.

"Ahem," Superman cleared his throat as loud as he could without sounding too impatient.

Never the less he still managed to scare the boy on the other end half to death. A teenager mostly covered in blue and white body armor nearly hit the roof and turned to face the man of steel with a slight yelp of surprise. Superman raised an eyebrow and tried to stifle a laugh.

Thankfully he pulled himself together in record time with a somewhat sheepish look on his face and identified himself, "Hello, um, I'm Cyborg from the Teen Titans. I need to speak to Batman."

"Yes, I've heard of you," Clark said, trying not to scare the boy again," May I ask the nature of your call."

Cyborg blinked and after a moment said," It's . . . about Robin, sir."

By then Batman and Wonder Woman had made it over. Judging by the downcast look in the half-robot's face the news was nothing good. Clark braced himself for what might come next.

When Cyborg didn't go on Batman said bluntly," Well? Has something happened to him?"

"That's the thing, sir, we're not sure," Cyborg replied slowly," He's missing . . . ."

* * *

**One week earlier-Titan's Tower**

"Poor Beast Boy," Starfire murmured. The changeling had just trudged out of the common room after telling them where he had been that day. The other four titans where left sitting in the common room in silence.

Cyborg broke the quiet first with a sigh," You don't think he's right, do you? That Terra's back?" he asked looking to Robin.

After a moment their leader looked up from his place on the couch and replied, "I don't know. But someone did move her; I'd like to know who and why even if somehow it was her. As for the part about her walking around with no memory of . . . everything . . . well, I just don't know."

"She _can't_ be," Raven deadpanned. They all looked at her. "What I mean is, I checked myself and so did Cyborg. Neither one of us found any signs of life, no way to reverse it," she sighed and looked out the floor to cieling windows in the common room, "Look," she said quietly after a moment," We're all tired and I really don't see anything we can do that Beast Boy hasn't already tried today."

"You're right -- for now," Robin said. Cyborg nodded.

"But what about friend Beast Boy?" Starfire asked," Should he be left alone when he is so sad?"

"I think he would like to be alone right now, Star," Robin told her. The pretty alien nodded but still looked worried.

Robin glanced at the clock on his communicator. It was almost midnight. "C'mon guys, it's late, let's get to bed."

As they all parted ways Robin thought about Terra. Beast Boy had said she didn't want to remember. He thought back to Raven and Cyborg's tests and a strange thought began to form in his mind. What if she didn't even want them to know she was _alive_. She could control earth after all. Through that thick layer of rock Terra was covered in maybe she could make it seem like was dead.

In some twisted way it made sense. But having sudden amnesia, or whatever, just because you didn't _want _to remember. No, if that really was Terra, then something else happened to cause her to forget.

Robin had only been asleep for about two hours when the Tower's alarm went off. He took a quick look at the clock. 2a.m.

Stupid crime- couldn't even wait till dawn.

Never the less, Boy wonder jumped out of bed and bolted to the main room. Just as he began to slow down as he entered, though, Cyborg ran smack into his back almost making him topple over.

"Cyborg," Robin looked at him annoyed as the rest of the team filed inside.

"Sorry, dude, your break lights are out," Cyborg joked.

Cyborg moved around the irritated masked boy and went to the computer to see what was going on.

"Something's up at the docks," Cyborg announced looking at a map of the city, "No one we know."

"Doesn't matter, let's go," Robin said.

* * *

Standing in the shadows of a nearby building, Robin watched as thirty or so men unloaded what looked like a shipment of guns and ammunition from . . . who knew where.

"I don't suppose we could just tell them their under arrest and they'd come quietly?" Raven's monotone voice came through the comm. link.

"Considering every one of them has a weapon of some sort on them, I seriously doubt it," Robin replied, "Is everyone in position?"

Affirmative all around, "Good, Titans go."

Raven was the first to act. Several unloaded boxes were surrounded by a black aura and shot across the deck knocking several crew men into the water. Star was next, dropping from the air right in the middle of a large group of them. More crew members shouted as she went on throwing them overboard. A blue-white beam crashed through the center of the boat as Cyborg rode in on a green pterodactyl. Cy hopped of next to Starfire and Beast Boy morphed into a large tiger, let out a vicious roar, and began pouncing at fleeing men.

Finally Robin jumped in, bo-staff in hand. He landed on top of a large pile of crates that a few men were attempting to push onto Starfire and Cyborg, still fighting side-by-side.

"Too chicken to fight out in the open?" Robin startled them with the question.

They recovered quickly enough and began to climb up the unsteady pile. The largest of them carried a heavy chain with him and swung it at Robin's middle when he finally reached the top. Robin back flipped out of the way and managed to plant both feet into man who climbed up behind him. One down, two to go.

The other unarmed crook was easy enough to take out. One swift kick to the skull and he was out cold. Unfortunately this meant the crook plummeted down, dislodging several more crates making the mound even more unstable.

Robin was regaining his balance when the man with the chain got in a lucky shot. He caught Robin around the leg with the thick chain and pulled. The burly man swung the chain towards the water and, in a moment of pure instinct, Robin reached out and grabbed the nearest crate.

But it only came crashing into the water with him. Before he hit the surface he caught a glimpse of Beast Boy staring wide-eyed and sprinting to help.

Then all he saw was murky water and felt the heavy crate fall on him and push him to the bottom.

Beast Boy was the only one who saw their friend get pulled into the inky river and was running to help only to be stopped by a bulk of a man with a huge chain.

"Get out of the way," the shape shifter growled before launching himself at the criminal as a bear.

The man swung his weapon again and this time caught Beast Boy around the neck. The bear turned into a python and slithered out of the makeshift noose and around the man. He squeezed the man around the chest until he passed out from lack of air. Unfortunately Beast Boy didn't realize how long he was taking.

By then Raven had come over to him and said,"I think that's the last of them."

They all turned to Starfire as she squeaked," Where is Robin?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Hopefully you're still reading and if you are, know this: when I'm trying to get to the point of something I get in a hurry, then details become unclear. I will try not to do that. The reason I told you that is because things are about to pick up and I don't want to lose your interest just because I tend to be a spaz.

Oh, and I forgot n the last chapter- I don't own anything and if no one reviews soon I won't claim this story line either.

Sorry, onward.

* * *

Wanting to do things yourself is fine. Admirable in a way. But there is a point when wanting to do things yourself and flat-out stubbornness collide and cause something resembling a train wreck.

Starfire and Beast Boy were witnessing one of these train wrecks between the older members of their team.

"He's our teammate so he's our responsibility!" Cyborg was beside himself at Raven's suggestion.

"We need _help_ Cyborg! We've been at this for nearly a week. We haven't slept, hardly eaten, and none of this is doing Robin any good. Call him," Raven was trying to stay calm but failing miserably.

"What makes you think he'll even want to help us?" He countered," You didn't want to call last time."

Raven gave him that I can't believe you just asked me that' look, which was usually reserved for Beast Boy, and said," I keep minor mental tabs on each of you. Robin's is stronger now that I've been in his mind, but before the most I could do was check in on his well being, you know if he was alive or. . . not," she paused and looked at him," at least then I knew he was alive. Now. . . I really can't tell. But, I do know that Batman will want to help," she finished gently.

They both stared at each other for about a minute, and finally Raven won out. Cyborg sighed and walked over the computer and punched in the code for the JL's space headquarters.

Before anyone picked up he turned to look at Raven," If the Bat gets mad and kills me, it's on you."

"Duly noted."

Just then a loud ahem' from behind Cyborg made them all jump. Cy turned back to the screen with a small yelp- to see none other than Superman staring at them.

Cyborg composed himself and as he began an awkward introduction Beast Boy spoke for the first time since the docks," You don't think he could really be. . .," his voice trailed off. Starfire looked like she was trying not to cry and put her head in her hands. Raven looked at the two youngest members of the team. She never noticed before, but they looked very young, young and small. Did Robin ever look that young, that scared and they just never noticed?

Now that she thought about he did. He was just as much of a kid as the rest of them.

_Stop it,_ she scolded herself, _you can start saying _was_ when you find proof, not before._

_But , really, what more proof do you need?_ She heard Doubt at the back of her mind. She had no answer.

They all looked at the screen when they heard Batman growl," I'm coming," and the connection was cut.

* * *

"We're coming with you," Bruce looked at Diana.

"Why?"

She tried not to roll her eyes," Bruce, the kid is practically a nephew. We're coming with you."

Batman didn't have time for this and being the man of many words he is," Fine."

As Clark punched in the code to get them to earth he watched Bruce. He was having a hard time keeping up the stoic mask.

Just before they were transported Clark put a hand on his friends shoulder," We'll find him, he'll be fine."

* * *

Three months later and Clark was calling himself an idiot. They had searched everywhere that day and for weeks after. Miles of river shore, _in_ the river, called nearby hospitals to see if he had made it to one, and the houses around the river. Heck, on a long shot they even tracked down all the crews that had been on the water that day to ask if they'd seen anything.

Nothing. No trace. None. Not a scrap of clothes, not even a sign that he was even _under_ the crate that fell on him. He was just gone.

The worst of it was the toll it took on the Titans.

The shape shifter, Beast Boy, who was the proclaimed comic relief of the group, hardly spoke a word. Starfire, the Tameranian, cried nearly every time a lead turned into a dead end. The dark girl, Raven would run out of the room muttering something about meditating. The half-robot, Cyborg, just tried to keep them all together.

Batman had just dug a hole, losing hope.

Unfortunately, Wonder Woman and Superman had to leave the search early. They still had their own cities to look after.

That was exactly what Superman was doing at that moment. Flying over Metropolis, ensuring everything was in order.

It was almost noon when he flew over a gathering of police cars and ambulances. He banked that way to see what was up.

* * *

_How do you go from trying to figure out how to say you're sorry to trying to say goodbye?_ Bruce thought_, how could I let this happen? It wasn't supposed to end like this._

He heard a soft knock on the door," Sir?" Alfred said quietly. Bruce looked up from the desk in his office. He'd been staring at Robin's picture. Well, Richard Grayson's picture to anyone who didn't know.

"Yes, Alfred?" Bruce muttered.

"I came to ask if you would be having dinner downstairs or in here tonight, sir."

"I'm not hungry right now Alfred," Bruce looked back down at the picture. Jet black hair, and that stubborn piece that wouldn't stay out of his face without a severe amount hair gel. A bright smile that was always contagious.

And blue eyes. Warm, expressive cerulean eyes, that seemed to laugh at the world.

"He isn't gone, sir," Bruce was startled at how close his trusted butler had come without his notice.

He looked up," How do you know?"

"I believe it is what you would call a gut feeling," His eyes twinkled a bit, then he turned and picked something up," and because I know my boys, now eat," he set a tray in front of the billionaire," and have hope."

* * *

The tower was never so clean. For the past three months the Titans had needed something to do with themselves in Robin's . . . absence.

So, in between emergencies and following up leads on leader's disappearance, they cleaned, washed, de-cluttered, and alphabetized the whole building. Except Robin's room. No one went in there

Unfortunately, they had run out of things to clean. At one point they started rearranging the living room and ended up exactly the way they had started. Now, they just sat in silence. Until . . .

"Three months," that was the most Beast Boy had said in days so, naturally, he got the attention of everyone in the room- even Silkie.

"Yes, Beast Boy? What is on your mind?" Star asked timidly.

"That's how long Terra was gone before . . ." he stopped.

Raven looked up from the book she hadn't actually been reading," Go on."

Their friend shook his head," You'd think I'm crazy."

"We thought you were crazy when you challenged Star to a eating contest," Cyborg stated with a smirk," spit it out, dude."

Beast Boy kept his eyes on the floor but said clearly enough," That's how long Terra was gone before I saw her. Or thought it was her," he shook his head again," I don't know." He looked out the window. It had gotten cold outside and the gray sky of winter reflected what they all felt.

"We all want him back Beast Boy," Raven said softly," it's nothing to be ashamed of."

Then she did something very unexpected – she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

And the silence resumed.

* * *

"What's happened here?" Superman asked as he landed, though he really didn't need an explanation.

"Semi ran the red light, hit the front of a school bus. Only took out he drivers but there are still some kids stuck inside," the police chief informed him," Guess you know what to do."

"Right," Superman raced over to the bus and paused to X-ray it. He could see the children. They were stuck near the front of the bus.

Okay, easy enough to get into—for him anyway.

Superman pried the wall of the bus away, peered in and saw the teenagers scared faces.

"It's all right. Can you walk?" Superman reached towards them with one hand. Most of them walked unsteadily toward him and he and the paramedics helped the down and toward the ambulances.

Only one girl was left. But when she came towards him she made no move to get out.

Instead she said urgently," My brother's leg is stuck under one of the seats, he can't get out."

"Okay, I'll get him," Superman assured her, then saw a large amount of blood streaking her blonde hair," but first you have to go with the paramedics."

She hesitated, took a last look back, and nodded. Before she walked away she said," His name is Sean."

Finally, Superman stepped inside," Sean? Can you hear me?"

A timid," Yes, I'm here," came from behind the seat just I front of him. Superman picked the seat up and the boy moved out from under it. He put it back down and turned to see if Sean's leg was all right. It was bleeding badly, but when Superman X-rayed it he could only see a hairline fracture.

"Is it broken?" Sean asked and for the first time Superman looked him in the face.

What Superman saw made him freeze to the core.

He was staring at Richard Grayson. He was staring at Robin.

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah, yeah, I know some of you out there put two and two together and saw that one coming. But don't worry it gets better. I hope. No pressure.

Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Wow, I suck at this whole "time management" thing. Stupid attention spa…., ooooh, shiny!

Whatever that was. I don't own anything.

* * *

Chapter 3

Obviously, Titan's Tower could never remain so clean, it would be a crime against every teenage stereotype in existence. Nor could the stifling silence continue.

So now, where there were once pizza boxes and empty drink cans piled in an obscene mess, there were files and papers piled in an equally disturbing mess. Also pinned to the walls, spread over the couch, and in the laps of the four teenagers still searching for their lost friend.

And on the television was turned on to the news in place of the video games and movies, really just for background noise. No one was talking any more than before except to ask for the next file. The remaining Titans were going through all the paperwork again, just make sure they hadn't missed something in one of the John Doe reports from the hospitals or in some of the criminal activity near the river.

A sigh finally erupted from Beast Boy from where he sat in the floor, closest to the T.V.

Starfire, sitting on the floor across from him looked up," Have you reached the end of your stack, friend? Or do you require assistance?" she asked. Her weird English still made Beast Boy smile a little.

"No Star," BB stretched," Just takin' a quick break," he stared at the T.V. and listened to the news lady who wore too much make-up.

"Ya'll we've been at this for hours, I don't think we're getting anywhere," Cyborg dropped a ton of files onto the coffee table and sat back into the couch.

"Oh, Cyborg, we cannot give up yet, we will surely find something soon," Star starred at him with wide, pleading eyes.

Cy smiled at her," I didn't mean we should give up, Star. Maybe just try something else. As much as I hate to admit it we should probably give Bats a call, see if he's found anything. I know he said he'd call us but I don't really see that happening in the near future."

"He did seem rather -- well, for lack of a better word -- _possessive_ of anything concerning Robin, didn't he?" Raven rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah," the human half of Cyborg's head scrunched," Ya know, he was the only one who went in Robin's room."

"Only one brave enough to," Beast Boy said, still staring at the news.

"Rob always kept a few files in his room, bet their still there," Cy continued slowly.

Raven looked up at him," Yes, what's your point?"

He hesitated," Well, maybe we should take a look at 'em. Might give us something to work with," he shrugged," I know it's a long shot but let's just see if we can find some enemy that would want him to disappear."

"That narrows it down to about _all of them_," Beast Boy piped in.

Cy shot him a look," _Yes_, but one might stand out. We're just not getting anywhere this way. Time to try new tactics." He looked at them all for some support.

Raven hesitated, for a moment she briefly wondered if Cyborg had some other reason for going in there. His excuse sounded a little lame to her. Then she wondered if she was just scared to go in.

Starfire spoke up quietly," Perhaps it is time we -- tried new tactics."

Raven and Beast Boy glanced at each other and gave a single nod.

* * *

There they were. Congregated outside the door with Cyborg's finger posed over the button to open it.

"Ready?" he said softly looking back at his teammates. The three standing behind him nodded.

"Here goes," and the door slid open with a swish. They all stared inside.

Cy's first thought was how Robin ever found the bed. It was like a slightly neater version of the common room in its current state.

There were papers and news clippings pinned to every wall and laid on every flat service in the place. Stacks of files and computer readouts piled next to what looked like a rarely used filing cabinet. A desk sat against the far wall, next to the floor to ceiling window, overflowing with weapon parts, wires, tools, a lamp, and a laptop if you could uncover it.

"Where shall we begin?" Star asked starring at the impossible mess," it seems the files you wanted are a bit . . . unorganized."

"Well, maybe we should start by going_ inside_," Raven deadpanned with an impatient edge in her voice.

Cyborg nodded and took the first step inside, like he was testing a rickety old set of stairs so he didn't fall through. Then he walked ahead as if deeming it safe. Beast Boy was next then Star and finally Raven, who shut the door behind her. The swish startled everyone else. They jumped and looked at her.

She gave them all a withering glare," What is with all of you. Look if we're going to do this we can't be walking around like there's a ghost chasing us. Get a grip."

"Say's the girl who's whispering for no reason," Beast Boy shot back, also in a whisper.

Raven opened her mouth to deny that but realized she had been, and just continued to glare at him.

"She's right though, guys," Cyborg said in a normal voice," BB, Raven if two will start with that stack over there, Star can start with taking things off the walls, I'll see if I can hack his computer."

They did as he said. Since Robin had disappeared Cyborg had been taking pretty good care of them. Of course there were the things that it seemed only Robin knew how to handle. Not just organizing the team in a fight or figuring out how to stop a disaster, but stuff Cy never thought about before.

Like breaking up a fight between Beast Boy and Raven, and keeping Star's cooking under control or humoring her when you couldn't. Matter of fact when Cy thought about it Robin could even find a way to tell Beast Boy he was being stupid and make it sound supportive.

That was part of his reason for coming in here, really. Yeah, Cyborg was anxious to find some clue to this mystery, but also to find out about Robin. What made his friend tick?

"Got it," Cyborg said quietly. He had finally hacked into Robin's personal files. Mostly it was stuff he'd already seen, files that were still sitting in the common room. Lots of stuff on Slade, but of course he had been their first suspect. Unfortunately, Slade was the kind of psycho who found _you_, not the other way around, so they gave up on that till further notice.

Nothing else was of any real importance or interest, so he got up and wandered to where the others sat. Raven looked up and shook her head, they hadn't found anything new either.

Cyborg sighed and looked around, and his gaze fell to the closet. He walked over in three short strides and opened it.

"Don't tell me your going to try on his clothes again," Raven raised her eyebrow.

Cyborg shook his head not bothering to give her the scowl that crept onto his face. He scanned more carefully he had the last time he'd been here. In the top shelf, above the numerous copies of uniforms and masks were several boxes. Nothing special about them just plain old cardboard boxes.

Cyborg reached up and took one down.

"What is it?" Star asked, curious. Cy shrugged and set it on the bed (the only place not completely covered in chaos) and opened it.

At first they thought it was just more jumbled up papers but then Beast Boy reached in and pulled one out. It was a picture, a very happy picture of couple on their wedding day. The bride was stunning in her white dress even though it was simple. Both she and the man had huge smiles plastered on their faces looking as though nothing could go wrong. They both had dark hair but the man's had a stubborn piece hanging over his forehead.

But where the groom's eyes were a chocolaty brown, the woman's were a beautiful blue, happy and warm. Almost purple, really.

"Why would Robin have this?" Beast Boy asked as if it weren't obvious, well, it may have been for him.

Raven gave him her patented glare," Think about it, grass stain. How does everyone in the world get here?"

He starred for a moment not comprehending, then," What! You mean these are his _parents_!"

"We've got a regular Sherlock Holmes on our hands here," Cy said dryly.

Star giggled as pulled out another picture. The photos were odd. They were mostly of the wedding and random events of the same couple, but it all had circus stuff in the background.

"I always figured Robin was from some weird genes," Beast Boy said under his breath. Then they came to the picture that they had silently been searching for, the one of a little boy with black hair.

Starfire was the one who found it," Oh, look friends!" she squealed," Is he not the most adorable thing!" she held out the photo for them all to see. It was a tiny version of Robin, with no mask, just a normal kid sitting on his dad's shoulders, laughter on his face. The back of the picture had _Richard's 5__th__ birthday_ handwritten on the back. He had his mother's eyes.

Then Beast Boy reached into the bottom and pulled out an old flyer," Hey, check this out."

They all leaned over to see the colorful poster proclaiming _Haley's Circus staring The Flying Graysons_ in bright bold letters. Under it there was a picture of the same family, of Robin's family, smiling from the top of a high wire.

"Wait a second," Cyborg said suddenly pulling the flyer closer to his face," _I saw this act._ My grampa took me to see it when I was a little kid. It was amazing," then he paused and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Beast Boy asked.

"They died," Cyborg explained pointing to the adults in the picture," Now I remember, their names were John and Mary Grayson, my gosh, Robin's _that_ Richard Grayson." He was almost talking to himself now, then he spoke up so they could each hear," not long after I went to see them they went to Gotham City and were killed in one of their performances. Their son wasn't in the act. That old mobster . . . uh . . . Zucco I think poured acid on the wires. It was all over the papers, I remember cuz I was really upset. They were best circus act I'd ever seen."

"What happened?" Star asked," What was little Robin or, um, Richard to do with no parents?" she leaned closer to him.

"He was adopted. By that rich guy in Gotham, um, Bruce Wayne, yeah, that's right. The papers didn't write much on it after that, Wayne like his privacy."

Raven hadn't said anything yet, Cyborg figured she already knew most of this and didn't feel it was her place to tell them. But now as he sat there mulling it over, Cyborg caught her staring at him as if waiting for him to follow up one more conclusion. Then he saw it.

" Oh, man," he whispered," that must mean that Bruce Wayne is. . ."

"The Batman," Starfire finished for him.

* * *

They were sitting in the common room again, this time looking at the pictures they'd found, handling them carefully. The news was still on in the background but no one really noticed it, until Beast Boy looked up to stretch. He never had been good at sitting for too long.

He watched the lady with too much make-up again as she spoke of happenings outside of Jump City.

"In Metropolis, this afternoon, Superman made an appearance at the scene of a terrifying collision," she said as a helicopter camera panned over a school bus unnaturally connected to a semi and other unlucky cars that couldn't stop fast enough.

They switch to an on the scene reporter," The bus full of children were actually on a two day field trip from Jump City," he said," luckily the man of steal was here to pull out the remaining passengers . . ."

The camera showed Superman kneeling by two kids on the side walk. A boy and a girl.

Beast Boy froze," Guys," he whispered. No one heard, " _Guys_," he said louder, and everyone looked up at him. He pointed at the screen.

Starfire gasped, Raven said something in Latin, and Cyborg uttered a," Man."

They were looking at the blonde girl standing next to Superman with a head wound looking worried. They recognized her immediately. Terra.

Then Superman shifted and they saw who she looked so worried about. Starfire looked back down at the pictures in her hand, and back up at the screen. She laughed and almost started crying," Robin."

"Guess I wasn't so crazy after all," Beast Boy said quietly.

* * *

A/N: Someone let me know if I'm really messing up one of the character's. I feel like I'm not writing someone right. Heh, that sounded funny. and I promise if you keep reading this will get better.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Okay, I need to know something. In the episode "Things Change" what was the point of Slade being there? Can anyone educate me on that because everything he said made no sense to me. The reason I ask is cuz I don't know whether I should put him in this story, and I'm not unless someone can give a really good reason to.

Oh, and thank you for the reviews, you have no idea how much that made my day.

Although what brings me down from that high is the fact that I don't own any of this. (sigh)

* * *

Chapter 4

"Sir, is something wrong?"

Superman blinked. He realized he'd been gaping openly. That couldn't be. This boy couldn't be . . .

"No, um, Sean, nothing's wrong. I'll carry you out," Superman gave him an encouraging smile-- for some reason he felt like smiling.

He gently held the boy in his arms minding his leg. It was hard to stop staring at his face, and especially those blue eyes, to watch where he was going. Well, no harm in making sure.

"You know it's not time for school to let out," Clark said with false casualness," was this some sort of field trip?"

"Yes," Sean said after a moment," We came here from Jump City-- s'pose to be a two day trip," he definitely sounded like Robin. And he lived in Jump.

"How long have you lived in Jump City," Clark asked cautiously, he wondered if that was pushing the "casual conversation".

It didn't seem to bother the boy much, though. If anything he relaxed a little more in Superman's hold," Only about three months," he leaned his head on Clark's shoulder," Where's my sister?"

"I don't know, she had to go off with the paramedics," up until now Clark had forgotten about the girl. He set Sean down on the sidewalk next to the other kids getting treated.

"Is she alright?" He asked suddenly anxious. He had his arms wrapped around himself. It was getting uncomfortably cold outside and obviously none of the kids had had time to grab their coats before getting off the bus. A medic came over and began to wrap gauze around the large gash in the boy's leg. He winced but otherwise sat still. Clark didn't get the chance to answer his question.

"Sean? Sean! Are you okay?" the blonde girl came running over to them with a very disgruntled looking lady medic chasing after her. Her head had been wrapped, but now she looked like a World War 2 survivor.

"I'm fine Jessie, now come over here and sit down before you hurt yourself again," Sean said with a smile and patted the sidewalk beside him.

"You are not _fine_, you're bleeding!" She said, staying on her feet.

"So are you," He pointed at her head.

"Don't change the subject."

They continued on like that for a while, but Clark wasn't listening. He was trying to figure this out. There was no way Sean was Robin. Obviously, if he was, he would've recognized Clark immediately. Plus this boy had a name and a sister and apparently attended school on a regular basis.

But then, he had only lived in Jump City for three months. Robin had been missing for three months. It was a strange coincidence sure but that didn't mean anything did it?

Superman didn't have time to finish that thought because just then he heard something that made him cringe. The News crews had just shown up. Lois would probably be there pretty soon, too. Ugh, Batman _always _watched the news.

They were already shooting, too. Oh well, there really wasn't anything he could do about it and not give away something was going on. Batman would pick up on that to.

Then the ambulance driver came up to him and said," We'll have to take this boy to the Hospital, we don't have everything we need to treat him here. Are you finished?"

"Yes," Superman told him," and may I ask which Hospital he'll be at?"

The medic looked like he wanted to ask why Superman would want to know, but decided against it. He gave him the name and loaded Sean up into the ambulance with his sister, Jessie, hopping in after them.

Clark gave a quick glance around to see if there was anywhere else he was needed, and thankfully the police and other emergency people had under control, and flew off.

He landed on one of the tallest buildings and began to pace. There was no way that kid down there could be Robin. It was way too weird. But what proof did he have otherwise?

Suddenly, something dawned on him. Clark looked down at his clothes. Sean's blood was all over them and even some hair where he'd leaned on his shoulder. Robin's DNA would be in the Justice League's system, all he'd have to do is compare the two. Without drawing any unwanted attention.

Unless the media had already done that for him. Well, it still couldn't hurt to try.

* * *

**In the JL watch tower**

_This would be a whole lot easier if Atom were here_, Clark thought as he stared at all the test tubes and colorful chemicals he had no idea how to use. Atom had shown them all how to handle simple things if he wasn't there, but Superman had never been good at all this science stuff.

He was able to get it through the first couple of stages, but now he was at a loss. He decided to just leave it there for now and take a break, and also to consider maybe bringing in another member on this. Maybe someone who could tell the difference between a milligram and a kilogram.

He walked into the kitchen without meeting anyone else. Thankfully Batman had stopped haunting the halls or else Clark surely would have let something slip. He was still expecting a call any minute about the news broadcast.

There's no way he could hide that. But who knew, maybe Bruce had lost interest television in light of the current situation. If only he could be so lucky.

Superman stayed in the kitchen for a few more minutes making a bottle of water last longer than anyone ever intended. Finally he sighed and began walking back to the lab, trying to dredge up some memory pertaining to Atom's lessons.

But of course, when you were in the watch tower you were never completely alone. When Clark got to the door, his sensitive hearing picked up someone rummaging around inside. He hurried through the door and saw Diana leaning against the counter watching the computer as it sped through numerous systems.

She looked up at him and smiled," I thought that mess was yours. You know you should pay more attention to Atom. I went ahead and finished it for you," then she registered the look on his face," Sorry, I guess I just assumed you wanted to run it through the system . . ." she starred at him for a moment.

Clark was trying to think of what to say," No, um, I mean, yes, I did, but . . ." just then the computer gave a bleeping noise and started flashing a green sign_ MATCH FOUND._

Clark ran over to stop her but Wonder Woman had already clicked on the link. And her jaw dropped.

Superman was already prepared for what he saw. Robin's profile.

"Clark . . ." Diana was starring at him now," Explain," was all she could think to say.

Clark took a long minute to answer.

Finally," I found Robin."

* * *

"So, how are you going to tell them," Diana always knew how to get right to the uncomfortable point.

"Them?" Clark had just told her what had happened and of course Diana was all ready to spring the good news on Bruce. If one could even call Richard having some weird amnesia good. And they were _very_ sure it was Richard, they ran the DNA a dozen times with the same result.

"Yes, Clark, _them_. Or have you forgotten about the Titans?" Diana raised that one eyebrow like she did every time one of the League was doing something stupid. And in all honesty Clark had forgotten, he was so used to only associating Robin with Batman and the League.

"By the way that Tameranian girl, Starfire talked about him you may want to tell her before you tell Bruce or you may find yourself on the business end of her fist," Diana smiled a little.

"Yeah, well no matter who I tell first there's still no easy way to let Bats in on this insanity," Clark stared down at the kitchen table.

"Clark, let's think about this for a second. If the roles were switched here, and by that I mean you and Bruce, do you really thing Batman would break it to _you_ easy?"

"Heck, no."

"So, then what's the problem? If he doesn't believe in beating around the bush in your situation then why should you? Now be a man and call him," Diana sat back in her chair looking very pleased with herself.

Clark put his chin in his hand," Will you do it?"

"What?"

"You call Batman if you're so sure," Clark folded his arms over his chest and looked at her.

Now it was Diana's turn to stare at the table. A few minutes passed and they just sat there.

Then Diana looked up and said," Maybe we should call the Titans first."

"Oh, but won't Bats get angry for our "beating around the bush"?" Clark mocked.

"We'll tell him he was first, what he doesn't know won't hurt him, or anyone else."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Clark moved toward the computer room, Diana followed.

As they neared the door Diana mumbled," We're both pathetic."

* * *

**Titans Tower**

"So, explain to me again why we're not just calling Superman ourselves," Beast Boy complained.

Cyborg ground his teeth," I've explained this over and over again, B, I just want to know if anyone is going to keep us in the loop, here."

"Well if he doesn't call in the next hour, I'm givin' _him_ a ring," Beast Boy griped," Besides why wouldn't they keep us in the loop? I mean not only was Robin in that accident, but so was Terra! Two Titans, they can't keep this from us."

"I don' think Superman was even aware that Terra was there, we never really mentioned her while he was here with the others. He doesn't even know what she looks like, there was no reason to give any information on Terra," Cyborg explained.

"So, let's call him and tell him!" Beast Boy said impatiently.

"Cyborg please don't tell me this is not just some weird male ego kick," Raven deadpanned from her place on the couch beside Beast Boy," tell me you have a better reason for all this stubbornness."

They had all been very eager to call the Justice League immediately, to see if Superman had really found their missing friend. Cyborg's first excuse was to give the man of steel time to _get_ the proof before they bombarded him with questions. Since then the excuses kept getting lamer and lamer.

Cyborg sighed," No, Raven, this is not some male ego kick, . . . or maybe it is, I'm not really sure," she gave him a quizzical look, so he continued," Do you remember when Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman would talk about Robin while they were here? The way they laughed about stuff he did when he was little? I know they tried to be private about it, but I couldn't help but overhear some of it."

"What are you getting at here, tin man," Beast Boy asked, still impatient.

"What I'm getting at, is that they knew Robin before us, they see him as part of their family. They know who he is without the mask, we don't. I just get the feeling that they're a little more than reluctant to let us into that world."

"Are we not like Robin's family as well?" Starfire asked. She was perched on the back of the couch, " Robin explained to me the families of Earth. He said they are to stay together and help each other in times of great need," she stared at them.

"Not always Star," Cyborg said gently," But even if they don't want us to be involved we're going to be a real pain to get rid of."

"I'd like to see 'em try and get rid of us," Beast Boy grinned.

And the waiting continued, the silence broken every now and then by Beast Boy's comments and frustrated sighs.

An hour had passed and just as he'd threatened Beast Boy was trying to claw his way out of Cyborg's grip to call Superman. Fortunately, Cy was spared having his head bitten off by an alligator when the computer snapped on. It was blinking _INCOMING CALL_.

Beast Boy shifted back to human form as Cyborg dropped him," Bout time," the changeling said as he raced to click on the link. He hit the button with a little too much force, and Superman's face filled the screen.

"What in the name of everything good and decent in this world took you so _long_?!" Beast Boy glared at the man of steel. Superman actually looked a little startled.

Cyborg interrupted him then," Uh, what he means is, we saw the News report," he nudged beast Boy away from the screen before he do any real damage," We were waiting for your call."

Superman looked a little discouraged to hear that they'd seen the report," Yeah, I thought so. Um, listen has Batman called you?"

"No, we figured you would want to do that," Cyborg replied," Besides, isn't Batman always up to date. You know that whole great detective thing and all."

"Please, sir," Starfire interrupted," Tell us what you have found," she floated up to the large screen with pleading eyes.

"Well," Superman started out slowly," He's definitely Robin, but that's the only good news," he paused," the bad news is he didn't seem to have a clue who I was."

"We suspected that," Raven spoke up.

"What do you mean," Now Wonder Woman was in the screen looking curious despite herself.

"Do you remember the girl standing next to you?" Cyborg asked.

"Yes, he said she's his sister, Jessie, and she called him Sean," Superman explained.

"Well, she was a Titan too, before she had an accident and we assumed she was dead," Cyborg glanced at Beast Boy as he said this, but the changeling looked calm enough," We found out she was alive not too long ago, and her body was gone, but she has absolutely no memory of us or her life before the incident. We think whatever happened to her happened to Robin. We never even found his body."

The two senior super heroes looked impressed.

"You know, Robin, or, Sean, ugh, whatever said he lives in Jump City. For three months in fact . . ."

"Uh, Superman . . ." Wonder Woman was looking behind her and tapping his shoulder.

"Hang on, just a second we're on to something here," Superman said, he was still looking at Cyborg," So, this isn't just a onetime thing. Meaning something or someone is in the middle of all this."

"That's what we were thinking," Raven said a tiny smile playing at her mouth.

"_Superman," _Wonder Woman was now tugging at his arm.

"Just a second . . .,"

"You know it's rude to ignore a lady," said a deep, gravelly voice behind them.

The Titans finally diverted their attention to the figure Wonder Woman had already discovered. Superman didn't even turn around, he knew who it was and he knew he was in serious trouble.

Finally he turned," Hey, Batman good to see ya'."

* * *

**A/N: **Wow, longest chapter yet, and we really haven't goten anywhere. oh, well, please review.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Cool, here I thought that last chapter sucked and I got three more reviews, go figure. Thank you!

Oh, and gab4eva, thank you for being my first reviewer, even though your reviews make me kinda tired, especially when I picture someone trying to say them out loud.

And would I seriously be thanking any of you for anything if I owned any of this? No, I would pay people to do it for me.

* * *

Chapter 5

"How much trouble do you think he was in," Beast Boy asked, he'd been laughing his proverbial tail off since they'd hung up with the three senior heroes.

"Dude I think he's _still_ in trouble," Cyborg snickered. They were all still in a good mood. After endless searching it was hard not to be. Seeing the look on Superman's face when Batman walked up to him certainly did nothing to dampen the mood.

"You do not think the Batman would actually _hurt _the Superman, do you?" Starfire looked at Raven anxiously. She was a bit concerned that the only other thing the Dark Knight said to Superman was," We'll settle this later."

"Only his pride," Raven mumbled distantly, she wasn't paying that much attention. She had another problem on her mind.

"Okay, guys," Cyborg said finally, after his and BB's laughing fit was over," I think we should at least make a path through the living room before they get here."

The league members were coming back to Tower to devise some sort of plan of action. Cyborg was referring to the piles of paper, files, take out, pizza boxes (some with the pizza still in them), and other general teenage garbage that had somehow accumulated into the floor, again.

They had all figured out a way to navigate through it, sometimes without even flying, but they doubted company would see it as "that lived in feeling". So they started in on the catastrophe.

About half way through, and after seeing Raven bump into more than a few things, Starfire crossed the room to stand beside her and said kindly," I will pay exactly one Earth cent for what is on your mind Raven."

Raven stared at her, then realized," Oh, you mean, penny for your thoughts," man, who had taught her that one?

"Yes, although I do not have any money with me, if you will give me a moment I can go to my room and find some. . ." Starfire stopped as Raven cut her off.

"No, Star, it's just a dumb saying, you don't really have to pay anything," She explained," I was just thinking about when Beast Boy confronted Terra."

Beast Boy heard his name and looked up," What about it?"

"Well, by the way you described it, she didn't exactly take to kindly to you," Raven went on in her normal unemotional tone.

"Well, whatever he said to her couldn't have sounded sane," Cyborg raised an eyebrow," So?"

"So, can any of _you_ make it sound sane when we repeat it to Robin?" Raven crossed her arms.

Cyborg face scrunched up for a second as he said," I thought about that to, and I can't think of anything that sounds less crazy than the truth."

"Not to mention if Terra sees me again she'll probably run for the hills," Beast Boy said miserably, shoving things off the coffee table into a garbage bag.

"Here's an easier question," Cyborg said after a moment," _Where_ can we find them?"

* * *

"And what exactly were you thinking, not telling me. I mean, it doesn't take that much gray matter to know I would see the news report that aired on about fourteen different channels!" Bruce was still chewing Clark and Diana out.

He had taken a minute to get started back at the Watch Tower. Really, after they'd hung up with the Titans, he hadn't said anything. Not even as they walked out the door to get to the ship that would take them to Titan's Tower (since they hadn't installed a transporter there). Clark even had a fleeting hope that Bruce was happy enough over finding Robin that he wasn't really that mad.

Yeah, right. As Soon as they were inside the shuttle Bruce blew.

"I just needed to figure out the easiest way to break it to you," Clark said, trying to sound confident.

Bruce wheeled around so fast it made Diana squirm a little. He scoffed, "Break it to me easy? Easy! Clark, when have I ever needed someone to hold my hand? I don't know if you've noticed, flyboy, but I'm not exactly on the verge of a mental breakdown!"

"Told you," Diana muttered from her side of the controls.

"And you," Bruce turned again to face the Amazonian, and she wondered when he'd gotten so tall," You _let_ him. What was that about?! I figured _you_ would have had the initiative to see where this was headed."

She had no answer to that, so, she just said the next best thing," Look, Bruce we were stupid, okay, but you don't have any excuse for flying off the handle."

"Oh, dear woman, I have more than enough excuse to go flying off the handle," Batman said in the calmest, most indignant voice he could muster.

"What if I said I'm sorry? Would that help my case at all?" Clark asked quietly," I mean, you know I would have told you. I didn't deliberately try to hurt you, Bruce."

Bruce stared at the Kryptonian for a minute. Of course he knew Clark would have told him, so why did get so mad?

_Because your kid is in trouble, and it scares you to death to think you won't be able to do anything, _said that little voice in the back of his mind, _and you don't want that to be because _you're _the one who missed something._

Bruce ran a hand over his face and looked back out the window," Yes, Clark, I know, just don't do it again or I _will_ have some sort of meltdown."

Clark grinned and Diana relaxed a little as they entered the earth's atmosphere.

"But don't think either one of you are completely off the hook," Batman mumbled, after all it would be no fun if he didn't let them squirm a while longer.

And so they did.

* * *

The Titans had decided to answer the _where_ before the _how_. At least they already had some clue as to where to find Robin, rather than how to confront him.

They had a name from the Hospital he'd stayed at, courtesy of Superman, Sean Martin, and they knew he lived in Jump City and assumed he attended the same High School as Terra, or Jessica Martin, had when Beast Boy found her.

They started with the school.

"We need his address, um, because he's a witness in one of our investigations," Cyborg had talked to three people already to try and get an address, and they'd finally just connected him directly to the Superintendent.

"Look, I'm very sorry, but you're going to have to get a warrant before I can release that information to you," he said.

Cyborg sighed, it was the same answer he'd gotten all the other times, " Okay, well, thanks anyway." He hung up, it looked like they would just have to wait and follow Robin home. He stopped a second to think about how stalkerish that sounded.

"No luck?" Beast Boy asked. Cyborg shook his head.

With some relief he heard the beginnings of an aircraft landing on the roof.

"Their ba—aack," Beast Boy drawled, and ran for the door. The others followed at his heels and got outside in time to see a slightly uncomfortable looking Superman and Wonder Woman come out of a small shuttle. Then Batman walked out and saw the tiny smiles the Titans exchanged at his team members expense.

He could live with that.

* * *

". . . so, I figure the only thing to do is wait for school to let out and follow him home," Cyborg finished briefing them and looked around.

Superman, sitting at the kitchen table, smirked at that," You do know how stalkerish that sounds, right?"

Cyborg ground his teeth," Yeah, I got that, thanks."

"When does school end?" Batman asked in his usual to-the-point manner.

"In about an hour," Beast Boy said casually. They all looked at him.

"What? I did a little stalking of my own remember?"

"Never mind," Raven said from her perch on the counter," the school is a ways across town, so we may want to get going."

* * *

**Across town- Jump City Academy**

Always, _always,_ before you go looking for someone in a private school that is bigger than the town it's sitting in and with more of a population than Rhode Island, _get a map_. Or at least the schedule of the person you're looking for. Also, make sure you know how to get past campus security.

And, especially make sure that you don't get lost because you listened to a little green shape-shifter who assured you he knew where he was going. This was Raven's current dilemma and she was quickly losing patience with it. Not that she had much patience with Beast Boy in the first place.

All they were supposed to do was hack one of the computers and find Robin's schedule. That went successfully enough, they'd gotten the schedule (after many shouted instructions from Cyborg through their earpieces on hacking) and he was supposed to be in room G106 Advanced World History.

Hopefully the school counselor wouldn't notice anything amiss when she got back, like the coffee cup Beast Boy knocked off the desk.

Finding the actual room was a different matter. Especially, when you had Indiana Green as your tour guide.

"Beast Boy, you have no more idea where we are than I do," Raven whispered harshly, after they dove into another broom closet hiding from security," let's just go outside and look for him when he. . . "

"Just one more try Raven I'm sure of it this time," Beast Boy pleaded as he looked around for more guards.

She sighed, there was no point in arguing with him when he's determined," Fine, one more try, then we're out of here."

And can you believe it he found building G. Raven passed it off as luck.

"Now all we have to do is find room 106 and . . ., " Beast Boy was cut off by the bell. Crud they'd forgotten to keep up with the time, school was letting out.

Raven quickly looked up at the closest room number, 105. Okay, Beast Boy had some serious luck on his side today. She grabbed him and pulled him into a shadowy corner as the students began pouring out of their classrooms; it was Friday after all, get to the weekend as fast as you can.

"Can you see him?" Raven asked from the corner she'd dragged him to. Only a few students spared a passing glance at them, but mostly shrugged it off.

"I think that's him there. Yeah, see he's limping a little," Beast Boy pointed to the back of a dark headed boy.

"I think your right, let's go," Raven started dragging him, again. They stopped when the boy veered off and went to his locker, thankfully they could get a good look at his face now. Yep, that was Robin, all right.

Raven opened her communicator," Hey, Cyborg, we found him. Get ready."

"Where should we meet you?" Cyborg asked. He had wanted a limited number of people going inside so he, Starfire, and the three members of the League stayed across the street from the school, much to Batman's frustration. But, Raven was pretty sure a giant bat standing in the hallway would attract a bit more attention.

"Start following from the East Wing, we'll be the ones who stick out like sore thumbs," Raven said. All the students were basically in the same uniform, white button up shirt, blue pants or skirt, and a tie of some sort or another.

As she hung up beast Boy pulled her a little closer to their target, but still in the shadows, and pointed. Terra had walked up to Robin as he put his books away.

They were close enough they heard her say," I have to go over to Emma's to work on that science project, will you be okay walking home by yourself?"

He smiled as he said," You worry too much, Jess, I'll be fine."

She looked skeptical for a second, then shrugged and said," Fine, see you at home," she waved her hand and walked right by the two watching super heroes.

"Should we follow her to?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.

Raven shook her head and said gently," Robin's going to the same place she'll be, we stick with the plan."

They looked up and saw Robin was walking out the door. They followed him out into the cold, where there were already patches of snow sticking to the ground. Raven looked up and saw Starfire overhead, and the alien waved at her to show she'd seen them. She banked off to the right, probably to tell the others.

When Raven looked back Robin had pulled on a black coat that went to almost his knees, and went to get on the side-walk. She realized there were fewer people to muffle their footsteps so she began to levitate and fell back a little more. Beast Boy picked up on it and morphed into a cat and started springing from shadow to shadow. Soon, they saw the others begin to follow from across the street not daring to get too close and blow cover.

Raven thought about how it would look if Robin, or Sean, turned around right then and saw the parade following him. Of course this was a busy section of town, there were people bustling everywhere, and he never bothered to turn around.

Unfortunately, Sean didn't want to go straight home. He walked slowly, mostly because of the icy walk, and stopped every once in a while to look in a store window.

Whatever doctor had bandaged him up after that wreck must have had the brain of an engineer. From what Raven could make out there looked to be some sort of brace around his leg underneath his pants, and it didn't seem to bother him much, if any, and meant he didn't need crutches.

Trailing him was still taking way too long. And as noted before, Raven never had that much patience.

"Okay, Cyborg," Raven said into the communicator after about an hour of following," this is taking forever. Mind if I try something?"

"As long as it doesn't involve anything to drastic, go for it," he said," just be careful."

"Roger," Raven deadpanned.

Sean had stopped at another store window, this time a book store, and Raven had noticed he was carrying a shoulder bag. One that didn't look too brand new. So, it wouldn't be weird if the bottom ripped open and a few books spilled out.

Raven aimed carefully with her mind, then . . . _rrrriiiipp. _Several large school books and supplies spilled out onto the sidewalk. She had another idea, she made one of the books seem to scitter across the icy walk towards her.

Sean looked down, startled, and realized what had happened, and sighed. He bent down to start picking things up and storing them in undamaged pockets of the bag, but most of the books he had to carry in his arms. It looked like bending his leg still fairly hurt.

Raven picked up the book at her feet as beast boy whispered," What happened to sticking to the plan?"

She ignored him, and Cyborg squawking in her ear, _you're not going to talk to him are you?!_, and walked right up to Sean. He was looking at the sidewalk around him, with his back to her.

"Looking for this?" Raven held out the book labeled _Calculus_. He jumped and turned. He blinked a couple times when he saw her and she remembered how out of place she must look against the rest of the people crowding the street.

"Um, yes," he said, and took the book, then he smiled," not many people do that anymore."

"Do what?" Raven asked.

"Stop and help," he shrugged," Thank you," he stood there for a minute more, then began to walk away.

"Oh, wait," Raven called, she remembered why she'd pulled that stunt, and caught up to him," While I'm doing my good deed for the day, I might as well do it all the way," she took half the books from the his arms," Come on, I'll walk you home."

He hesitated, "You don't need to be anywhere?"

"I'm just making sure I'm thorough," she smiled though her voice lacked emotion.

"Oh," he looked down for a second, his blue eyes troubled.

"Is something wrong?" Raven tried to get him to look at her, thinking she must have scared him. She wasn't exactly Ms. Happy Spring Day," Was it something I said?"

"No, no, it's not you it's just that . . . I don't think it's a good idea for you to follow me home," he said, she could tell he was trying not to offend her," See, my dad gets really weird about people he doesn't know, I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Oh," she bit her lip, this wasn't going well," All right, but I hate to leave you with all this stuff to carry. I know, how about I only walk with you part of the way, then your dad would never see me."

He stared at her for a minute," You're really set on this whole good deed thing aren't you?"

"Yep."

"Fine," he said slowly," but only part way."

* * *

"What is she thinking?" Cyborg looked at the rest of them, indignant. They were all gathered in a dark alley across the street.

"Wait," Batman said," She may be on to something, just let her follow through."

* * *

They'd walked to the more well off part of town. She wasn't sure if it was where the rich people lived, but it was defiantly well above middle class.

Confronting Sean certainly made the trip much faster. As Raven had hoped, he was too much of a gentleman to drag another person around with him while he doddled. Especially when that person was carrying most of his books.

She hadn't counted on him being so friendly about it. He seemed to actually enjoy her company. Except for when she tried to slip in any probing questions that might help explain why they were in this situation at all.

He just gave short, clipped answers that gave her nothing to work with, then he'd change the subject.

After a while she just gave up," So, calculus, advanced history, a library book bigger than my head, what are you a computer on feet?" she asked, naming off the books in her arms.

He laughed at that," My dad signed me up for all those, says he's doing the world a favor, whatever that means. I don't mind, really, it's not like I have anything better to do than study."

"Don't you have any friends to hang out with?" Raven thought Terra, or Jessie, was doing pretty well.

"I've only been going to this school for a few weeks," he stopped abruptly, like he'd let something slip.

He stopped, looking a little less open than he had a moment ago," I think this is as far as we should go, my house is just around the corner."

"Are you sure? I could walk a little further with you," Raven knew she'd touched a nerve, and so did he.

He looked regretful of his next words," No, you've been great, thank you," he reached out and took his books from her, and began to walk away again.

"Wait!" Raven called and he turned. She floundered for something to say, she wasn't sure why. Great now he was going to think she was just crazy. He stared at her, waiting, his cerulean eyes glowing in the afternoon light.

Then an idea came to her, she smiled," Have you got a pen and paper?"

He blinked," Um, sure," and with much shifting of his heavy bundle, he pulled out a scrap of paper and an old pencil.

She took it from him and said," If you ever get sick of studying, and decide you need a friend, just come here," using one of his hardbacks she scribbled the address of the Tower," I have a few friends to spare."

She held it out for him to take. He hesitated," I don't know . . ." for a second she thought she'd blown it, but then," But I guess I'll find out," he said it so low she thought he was talking to himself. He took the scrap of paper and smiled," You're setting a whole new standard for good deeds aren't you?"

She didn't answer, she just smiled and watched him walk away and disappear around the corner.

* * *

**A/N:** I had some serious writer's block in this chapter, so if it sounds a little scattered in places I'm sorry. It's sort of a transitional chapter and I've never been good at that. Also, I understand if you think Raven's a bit out of character, but I wracked my brains and she was the only one suitable for the job. Please review anyway; you've all been great so far.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Anyone else notice these chapters are getting longer? Thanks for the reviews.

Geez, five chapters and I still have to say it, I own nothing.

* * *

Chapter 6

Apparently none of the others could figure out if what she'd done was disastrous or genius. Cyborg was steadily leaning towards side of disaster.

"Cyborg, he was totally fine with it, and besides it's not like I gave away confidential information," Raven said her voice rising slightly above the normal calm.

"I didn't say that Raven," Cyborg said also going up a few octaves," I'm just thinking of what will happen when he tells Terra, or Jessica, or whatever."

"How do you know he'll tell her, is she his secretary?" Raven thought this was another lame excuse; Cyborg had made up his fair share lately.

The younger Titan's were sitting on the couch just as they had been when Raven and Cyborg had had it out about calling the League all those months ago. The only reason they were doing this now was because the said adults were getting settled into the temporary guest rooms the Titans had set aside.

Secretly the adults had known the teenagers needed time to fight this out and were just giving them some privacy.

So, there they were in the common room.

Beast Boy spoke up," Well, Raven, from what we saw at the school they seemed pretty tight, for brother and sister anyway. She'll want to know where he's going."

"Exactly," Cyborg started up again," He also mentioned his dad a lot, whatever he's gotten into doesn't seem to have given him a long leash, that's all I'm saying."

Raven sighed in frustration. She hated to admit it but they had a point," Look, I just gave him the option, it's his choice what to do with it."

"Yeah, true," the half- robot said. He felt a little deflated. He'd thought finding a constant factor, Sean and Jessica's address, would make him feel a little more stable, but it hadn't. Now they'd just run out of certain things to figure out.

None of them knew what to do now. Beast Boy had been the one to follow Sean the rest of the way home, and he checked out the house. It had a lot of up to date security features, some that looked homemade. So, there was no chance going to _him_ and it seem like a casual visit.

They didn't want this man posing as his "father" to be on lookout for them. So, even though they were all experts in getting past security systems it didn't help in this case.

"I wish I could have at least gotten the name of this so called father," Raven plopped down on the couch beside Starfire," But he wouldn't tell me _anything_."

As she said this Beast Boy suddenly perked up and started rummaging through his pockets.

The others stared at him," Friend, what are you doing?" Starfire asked sweetly.

"I put it in here somewhere . . .," he muttered," Aha! Here," he handed a very crinkled up piece of paper to Cyborg.

"What's this?" Cyborg took it and read it.

"While you were yelling at Raven while she hacked the computer I found the filing system," Beast Boy announced proudly," I found their file and jotted down some useful information," he tapped the first thing on the paper," like the name of their legal Guardian," his grin stretched from ear to ear.

"Oh, wonderful, Beast Boy!" Starfire exclaimed.

"Yeah, good job," Cyborg said," Wait, you got the name but couldn't have saved us the trouble and gotten the address?"

"I didn't see it in there, and Raven dragged me out before I could look," the changeling explained.

"You know, I didn't see it on the computer either," Raven said thoughtfully.

"He likes his privacy," They all jumped at Batman's deep voice. The man never failed to make a silent entrance.

"What do you mean?" Beast Boy twisted on the couch to face him.

"I mean that this particular school only requires the student's address to be filed in the superintendent's office, which would require a warrant to get into, upon request it would otherwise be made confidential," Batman explained," So, it wouldn't be found in, say, a counselor's office," he raised an eyebrow at them.

They stared back in disbelief.

"Dude, how do you know all that," Beast Boy said in awe. Now that the shock of Batman's first visit was over BB would probably revert back to his hero worship of the senior crime-fighters.

"I have connections," Batman muttered vaguely. He walked over to Cyborg who handed him Beast Boy's note," Carlisle Martin," he thought for a minute then walked over to the computer.

That's the beauty of the modern world; anyone of any real significance is posted all over the internet. All one has to do is type and click.

Anyone who had enough money to pay for two kids to go to that private school, and enough influence to have his most personal information made confidential had to be somewhere in there.

The results came in flash. Batman clicked on one, and they all read.

The headline was one of those corny things newspapers think are so great, and it was obviously not front page worthy, probably went in the business section, but it was the most interesting thing the team had seen in three months.

_Carlisle Martin inherited his late father's Experimental Brain Research Labs this week after a long two month wait. Arthur Martin's will was finally approved and released to be read. C. Martin was quoted earlier today reassuring the public of his intentions_

"_I would never dream of changing the system my father set in place. This company has made numerous breakthroughs in neurologic research and we will continue to do so."_

_He right in saying this establishment has made several significant breakthroughs that have helped thousands of people with mental disabilities. But their use of animals in their research has had Animal Rights activists and environmentalists in an uproar for years . . ._

Below was a picture of the good doctor. He was rather handsome. He had dark hair, not quite black, but close enough not to be brown; green eyes, without a speck of blue or gray in them, clean shaven. His frame was tall and thin, not scrawny; he filled out his suit quite nicely.

It went on about the protesters and Martin junior's plans for new research and new technology. Batman skimmed the rest of the article and sat back in his chair, nothing else of real interest. It was dated around five years ago.

He closed that page and went to the one just under it.

_**Brain-Researcher Has Mental Breakdown**_

_Carlisle Martin, predecessor to his father, Arthur Martin, had a nervous breakdown today in one of his many research labs. His assistant found him sitting in the floor staring at nothing, in the middle of a destroyed lab._

"_He just kept mumbling about his latest project," the assistant says," and he kept repeating "control, just need control"."_

_The mental facility he's staying at won't release any more information, except that Dr. Martin's condition is much like one sees in all high stress jobs . . ._

Again Batman sat back in his chair. This article was dated roughly two years ago. He knew the Martins' research labs through Wayne Enterprises and the media's regular reports on protesters and discoveries.

The only other articles were dated only a few months after and about his coming out of the institution fully recovered and getting back to work. His breakdown was a big thing for a while in the medical 

community, concerning what would happen to the company if Dr. Martin didn't recover. He had no children to inherit it.

_Until now, _Batman thought wryly.

The green shape-shifter interrupted his thoughts," Great. A crazy scientist kidnapped Terra and Robin, did some weird experiment; now they can't remember anything. Never a dull day."

"But, why?" Starefire asked," What does he need our friends for?"

Instead of answering her question Raven offered another explanation," I don't think it was a science experiment that did this."

Beast Boy stared at her," What? It's, like, totally obvious! We have a mad scientist on our hands," he threw his arms into the air.

Raven shot him her reserved-just-for-Beast Boy-glare and snapped," It's more complicated than that," she closed her eyes and tried to focus," A simple surgical change or some freaky brain-washing wouldn't block my connection like this."

"Yeah, I remember. You said you couldn't get a read on Robin at all," Cyborg said.

"Yes," Raven cracked open one eye to look at him," and the only thing that can do that is death . . . or magic. Very old, very powerful magic."

She fell silent her eyes still closed, and waited for one of them to speak.

"Can you identify it any other way?" Batman rumbled from the computer seat.

She sighed and opened her eyes," No," she huffed," Not without consulting my books. You have to remember I'm new to several forms of mind power. I haven't been around that long."

Batman thought about that for a second, you don't really think of a half-demon being around just as long as other kids. It was almost a humorous thought.

"Well, I guess all there is to do is let Raven do her thing. Unless you want some help," Cyborg raised an eyebrow in her direction.

But Raven shook her head," Most of it is in an ancient or dead language, you'd just get in my way. No offence."

"None taken," Beast Boy yawned," Just talking about it makes my head hurt."

"Me too," Cyborg agreed," let's talk about something else for a while," he looked around and saw Batman just sitting there, looking as stoic as ever, so he asked," You guys settling in alright?"

"Yes!" Starfire exclaimed," I do hope the gift I left on the pillows was sufficient. I could not find any mints or chocolates as they have in the Hotel Magazines, so I had to improvise."

Batman looked up, apparently he'd been deep in thought," Yes, we're fine," he said quietly, and then he looked up at Cyborg again and said," Actually, before I say we're _fine_ I need to ask you about something."

"Shoot," Cyborg had been expecting this.

"You know Robin's identity," Batman said bluntly.

"Yes, we found the photographs in his room," Starfire smiled at him.

"Then you know what I'm going to say next," Batman's eyes swept the room, meeting each of theirs in turn.

"Don't worry Mr. Wayne," Cyborg leaned back on the couch with his hands behind his head," Your secret's safe with us."

"Certainly," Starfire floated over to the black clad hero," We would never tell a soul of you and your adopted son," she beamed at him, her smile radiant.

It was a little disarming to Batman, his brooding nature while he was under the mask didn't exactly put people in a smiley mood.

He gave her a tiny half smile when he answered," Thank you," then an afterthought came to him," And he's not actually my _son_, just my . . ." his smile disappeared and he looked away from her, forgetting to close his mouth.

Starfire's smile diminished a little too," What is wrong?" she became worried when he didn't answer," Did I offend you?"

Batman was lost in his own head apparently. He continued to stare off into space, and then he said almost in a whisper, "My ward."

The Titans all looked at each other. The next instant Batman had gotten up and was gone from the room, not even a flicker of his cape was seen going out the door.

The teenagers sat there for a moment watching the door.

"Think we should follow him?" Beast boy said," Just in case."

"Oh, I have offended our guest," Starfire said, green eyes downcast.

"No, Star," Cyborg said," I think he's just crazy."

* * *

Clark was just trying to figure out what the pink and green blob wrapped in plastic, sitting on the pillow was when there was a pounding on the door. He took one last look at it and rushed to the door and hit the button to open it.

Batman stood there, mask off and wild eyed.

"What happened?" Superman had never seen Bruce look quite as crazy as he did now. Bruce was always a little crazy, but he never _looked_ it. Well, until now.

Bruce walked into the room, not answering.

Clark closed the door, still watching his teammate," Bruce," he said slowly," What happened?" he asked again.

Bruce turned to face him," He's only my ward," he said simply.

When he didn't go on Clark asked," What are you talking about, Bruce?"

"I never _adopted_ him, he's still only my ward," he said this like it was the most obvious thing, and started pacing like he did when he was agitated.

"Bats, you're not making any sense," Clark was beginning to worry," Are we talking about Richard?"

"Of course we're talking about Richard, who else?" Bruce said impatiently.

"But you adopted Richard," Clark said, then thought about it," Didn't you?"

The look Bruce gave was all the answer he needed. Well, okay, Richard was his ward, big deal.

"I don't get it," Clark said, trying to get Bruce to elaborate.

"How can you not get it?" Bruce's voice was at a higher pitch than normal," I practically shoved him out the door myself!"

"Bruce, just calm down. Have a seat and tell me what you're talking about."

Bruce didn't sit, but he tried to explain," I never adopted him. When Richard left do you know what he said?"

"Was I supposed to?" Clark was getting more confused by the second.

"He said," You've made it more than clear that you don't want me," I thought he was just talking about as my partner, but he was talking about as my _son_," Bruce paused and looked at Clark.

Clark was slowly clueing in," So, you think that because you never adopted him, he thought you didn't _want_ him?"

"Yes!" his voice was rising again.

"Bruce," Clark bit his lip," Why would he think that?"

Bruce's shoulders slumped a little and he sat down on the bed," I just never really thought about it before," he thought for a second," When he got hurt I did everything I could to make him stop wanting 

to be Robin, I tried to push him away from it. I just didn't realize I was pushing him away from _me_ in the process."

Clark was silent as Bruce gathered his thoughts. He thought he knew where his friend was going with this.

"Do you know what _ward_ says to a kid Richard's age?" Bruce didn't wait for Clark's answer," It says I took you in because I felt sorry for you; I don't really care anymore than that."

He paused again, staring at the wall, so Clark asked quietly," And what would he have thought of adoption?"

Bruce thought a minute," That I wanted him, that he could belong with me, and Alfred, that he had somewhere to go and _someone_ to come to anytime he needed it. A family."

_Someone who loves him more than air, _Bruce thought.

"And after he was shot you tried to protect him the only way you knew how," Clark said.

Bruce nodded, and then rubbed a hand over his face," I called him a _liability_ Clark, in that last fight, we haven't spoken since," he had the strangest look on his face, like he was totally lost.

"Well, why didn't you adopt him when you knew he wasn't going to leave your guardianship anyway?" Clark asked.

Bruce laughed, no, it was more like a scoff," Do you have any idea what the court would say about that? A playboy billionaire adopting a kid," he shook his head," When he was younger I just didn't want to drag him through that. There's another strike against me, he thinks I wasn't willing to fight for him, either."

He began to stare at the wall again.

"How do I fix this?" Bruce asked in a whisper, and Clark didn't think Bruce remembered he was still in the room.

"Well, first you have to fix his memory," Clark said with a half smile," After that, I guess just tell him."

Bruce finally looked directly at him that lost look still on his face, so Clark said," Yeah, it's that simple."

Bruce nodded and looked around," I suppose it is," he mumbled then his gaze landed on Clark's pillow, " What is _that_?" he asked pointing at the pink-and-green-plastic-wrapped blob.

"I think a certain Tameranian's attempt at good ol' earthling hospitality," Clark said simply.

He thought he saw it move a little.

* * *

**A/N:** Ugh, I'm sorry. I think I just sort of lost my train of thought in this one- but I'm working on the next one and I'm back on track. Thanks for reading. Need I ask for reviews or is that implied?


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Okay, I finally got my head on straight, here's the next chapter. Brace yourselves this one's long.

I don't own anything.

* * *

**Saturday Morning – Titan's Tower**

Raven could not look at another never-translated scroll or ancient handwritten document. She'd been up until one in the morning, fell asleep over her infinite collection of books for about an hour, woke up, took one look at all of it and went to bed.

Her alarm rang at six, and was promptly smashed at six o' one by a dark aura. But she couldn't get back to sleep with all the information in her head. She'd found some old stories and legends that described mind-readers and crazy voodoo, but nothing about the kind of mind-_control_ she saw in Jessie and Sean.

What finally drew her from her room was the morning ritual of Cyborg and Beast Boy's. There was yelling emitting from the kitchen, along with what sounded like a fifty car pile-up

She got to the door of the kitchen and found Wonder Woman standing outside of it, an uncertain look her face.

WW looked up and saw her," What's going on in there?" she pointed to the door.

Raven's expression didn't change, nor did her voice, as she said," Breakfast," and walked past her into the room. WW followed, and looked relieved to find the other two members of her team seated at the table along with Starfire.

She walked up to Batman as Raven went to the cupboard, avoiding Cyborg's spatula wielding hand as he hoisted it away from BB," This is for real food only, grass stain!"

While BB morphed into a monkey and clung to Cy's head reaching for the tool, Raven heard Wonder Woman speak," What are they . . ."

"Don't," Batman interrupted.

"I was just gonna ask . . ."

"Just watch," Superman that time.

Raven grabbed her tea package and began to fill the kettle.

"Listen, tin man, you don't give me that and I'm going ape on ya'," Beast Boy had already apprehended the frying pan and had obviously been in the middle of mixing batter for his tofu waffles. Now she guessed he was going for some sort of tofu bacon.

Cyborg of course was making something a little more traditional; real everything- bacon, eggs, and something in a bowl she couldn't identify yet.

Wonder Woman spoke again as Cyborg tackled BB," So, their making . . . breakfast?"

"Yep," Superman continued to watch.

Raven was actually kind of enjoying the League's confusion over their morning ritual, until she heard a _clang_ and a splash behind her from the direction of the stove.

She turned as the two boys continued to wrestle and saw the tea kettle on the floor, spilled all over.

Alright, enough was enough. A black aura surrounded the spatula and it shot towards the opposite wall, sticking into it.

"Just. Make. Both," Raven said, eyes glowing. She was too tired to deal with this insanity today.

The boys looked at each other and said," We can do that," and set to work, Beast Boy retrieving the spatula from the wall.

* * *

**12:00 p.m. Saturday**

Cyborg really didn't think anything would come of Raven's little stunt yesterday. Who would accept an invitation to some one's house they'd just met. That's, like, one of the first thing your parents teach you when you're little; never, never, _never_ go with strangers.

It was crazy to think otherwise.

So, with that thought in mind he was in the middle of searching for more information on this Carlisle Martin, weirdo.

After breakfast (which went unusually smooth after Raven's outburst) and after Raven had her tea and calmed down, she explained that the good doctor may have done a little mixing and matching in that lab of his. Meaning that, even though he may have some inherited mind power, it may not have been strong enough to produce the results they'd seen in Terra and Robin, or, until they could reverse it, Jessie and Sean Martin.

Dr. Martin may have played around with his chemistry set and found a way to strengthen it.

"Along with a little magical help," Raven had said. She was back in her room, stocked up with herbal tea and book marks, searching her precious collection; she'd only gotten a quarter of the way through last night.

Cyborg wasn't having any more luck than his gothic teammate. Starfire, Beast Boy, and the League members had gone out to the library and brought back old newspapers and science journals, and began looking for any of Martin's discoveries or whatever they could find really.

Cyborg worked on the internet but only found more of what they' already seen. The others didn't seem to be having any more luck than him.

"It's like he just wiped himself off the face of the earth, until now," Wonder Woman said after they'd finished going through all the information. It didn't take long for them to finish, there was nothing to see. Martin wasn't in any of it.

"Much the same here," Cyborg said pointing at the computer; he was really starting to get sick of the thing," Since the report of his getting out of the loony bin there's nothing."

Raven came in then looking haggard and grouchy," I hate books. What made me get so many? I can't remember anymore," she said walking over and sat down on the couch next to Beast Boy.

"I'm starting to feel the same about the internet," Cyborg said," I haven't found out anything, except that there's gonna be a snow storm sometime this afternoon."

"How did you find that looking for information on Dr. Martin?" Superman asked.

"I missed the news this morning, I like to make sure," Cyborg replied, a little defensive.

"I haven't even gotten all the way through," Raven put her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands," We found Robin but now we're just back at square one."

"I vote we take a break!" Beast Boy suddenly burst out.

"You would vote that, B," Cyborg rolled his single human eye.

But, still, that's what they did. They were just cleaning up the last of the library stuff when the Tower's alarm went off, flashing red and blaring. The League members had pretty much gotten used to it on their last stay there, but it still scared the living daylights out of someone who wasn't expecting it.

Cyborg turned it off and clicked to see the problem. It wasn't an alert from the city, but a warning that a craft was landing on the island the Tower sat on. Cy turned on the cameras that were plugged into the outside of the tower, for times such as these.

"No, way," Cyborg almost slapped himself.

"Told you so," Raven had a rather smug look on her face even though her voice didn't change.

The camera showed Sean Martin stepping out of the ferry from the main land and pausing to look up at the intimidating structure. He didn't start to walk up to it immediately. By the way he nodded to himself, it seemed he'd finally reached his resolve, plus the ferry was pulling away so it was knock or swim back.

He slowly made his way to the door, stepping carefully, for there was no walkway, and a rather thick layer of snow was on the ground.

"Should we not go and let him in?" Starfire asked from the back of the group watching the television.

Her saying this snapped everyone out of their trances and sent them down to the entrance hall. Before Starfire could fling open the door, though, Raven stopped her.

"Let's at least give him time to _knock_," she said calmly," And maybe I should open the door."

Star nodded and backed away letting Raven take her place. As she did this a timid knock sounded through the hall, loud to the silent watchers.

Raven pressed the button to open it, and it did so with a swish and a blast of freezing air came with it. As Raven's eyes adjusted to the light she made out Sean standing a few feet from her, dressed in his black coat, a deep blue sweater, jeans and tennis shoes. Looking like every other kid in the world. He still had that shoulder bag, now taped up with what looked like electrical tape.

"Hi," he said awkwardly, and she realized she'd been staring," you didn't tell me there was a boat involved."

She smiled as best she could," I wasn't sure you'd take you'd actually take up my offer."

"Oh, don't worry there's an alternative reason for my being here," he said and smiled.

She was about to ask what it was, but then caught a glimpse of the sky and noticed him shiver a little," Why don't we talk about it inside?"

He shivered again and nodded. She moved aside and he walked over the threshold, but stopped before she even had the door closed. She turned and saw why, there was quite the reception waiting for him.

"Um, the Tower has an alarm system, your arrival sort of sent us into a frenzy," she explained lamely.

"Oh."

* * *

**Sean's P.O.V.**

"Oh," this may get a little more complicated than he thought. Sean found himself standing in a large entrance hall, with chairs lining both walls on either side. There were quite a few people in this hall too. And they were all staring at him.

These must be the friends Raven was talking about yesterday.

Sean had been imagining coming here ever since Raven had invited him, but he knew his dad wouldn't let him, not after what happened with Jessie when she came. To Sean it didn't seem that bad, but then he knew how much his sister could exaggerate. He was sure it was some big misunderstanding. Jessie wasn't that good a listener either. And Father had forbidden them to come near this place again. That was before Sean moved here to live with his father.

Although now, he was thinking she maybe wasn't exaggerating as much as he thought.

_Just stay calm,_ he thought, _as long as your home by your normal curfew Father will never know. _

"Let me introduce you," Raven said to him as if it finally dawned on her he would need introducing.

"Sure," Sean said warily, he wasn't too sure about being here in the first place. She took his wrist in her hand and led him up to the waiting group.

She walked up to a younger group of people first, the one's he thought he recognized from somewhere, the papers maybe," This is my team, the Titans, this is Cyborg," she pointed to a huge teenager mostly covered in blue and white body armor, who reached out to shake his hand.

Sean shook it a little afraid the big teen would crush his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Sean," he said with the strangest grin on his face, like he really was happy to see him.

Sean didn't have time to answer for Raven pulling him towards another individual, this time a very small boy . . . who was completely green," This is Beast Boy," she said," Feel free to ignore him, if you want."

Beast Boy shot a glare at Raven but grinned ear to ear at Sean," Dude, what's up?"

Sean didn't answer, not sure how. Raven pulled him again, this time he almost gasped. A beautiful red-headed girl stood in front of him, smiling," And this is Starfire," Raven said simply.

Sean suddenly found himself in the tightest hug he ever experienced, he could feel his ribs bending as Starfire said," Oh, it is wonderful to meet Raven's –new--friend!" she released him and suddenly looked like she'd forgotten something, "Oh, no, I was not expecting your visit!" she suddenly jumped in the air and flew off saying something about "the traditional Tameranian pudding of friendship".

"Ah, Beast Boy could you . . .?" Raven said and the little green one ran after Starfire saying," I'm on it."

"Sorry about that," Raven said to Sean," She can be a little impulsive," she turned back and led him over to someone he definitely recognized.

"I believe you've already met Superman," she said.

"Yes, I have," Sean said as he should hands with the man of steel.

Superman smiled just as wide as the others," How's your leg?"

"Forty-two stitches and a brace," Sean said with a grimace.

"Well, it could have been worse, I suppose," Superman frowned too, really looking concerned.

"This is Wonder Woman, you may already know she's a part of the Justice League, too," Raven gained his attention again; she seemed to be getting very anxious about something.

He shook hands with the tall beautiful woman, who smiled as well, and Raven moved on to the last person.

"And this is . . . Batman," she said it slowly, as if anticipating something. It was starting to creep him out.

But not nearly as much as Batman creeped him out. He was tall, dressed in all black, and was pretty much what Sean imagined the grim reaper looked like, only with more muscle and no giant blade. That belt was pretty intimidating though.

Then Batman gave him a tiny smile, it was guarded and cautious, but seemed kind and understanding.

"It's good to finally meet you, Sean," Batman said quietly, and reached out to shake his hand.

Without taking his eyes off the cowl, Sean took his hand, at a loss for words.

Then something very strange happened. As soon as Sean's hand was covered in Batman's, he relaxed for the first time since he decided to come here. He actually smiled at him, a real smile, not like when he was just trying to be friendly, but really smiled.

"Nice to meet you too, sir."

Batman let go and Sean looked back at Raven . . . and saw that she was staring at him. The hairs on the back of neck told him the others were too.

He looked around at them and he was right. They all looked away awkwardly, and no one said anything for a while, just an awkward silence.

_What is with these people? _Sean thought.

Then a crash was heard from somewhere in the massive building that made them all jump.

"I think we should go check on them now," the one called Cyborg said.

"Then we can talk about your alternative reasons," Raven said as she led Sea through the many halls.

* * *

Sean thought he'd walked into a battleground, but with more goop everywhere.

Raven said it was the kitchen, and that Starfire probably had a . . . surprise waiting for them. This was quite a surprise.

There was a layer of some orange substance covering every surface-- and Beast Boy and Starfire.

"What in world were you making?" Wonder Woman asked, side- stepping a puddle of whatever it was.

"Beast Boy said instead of the traditional Tameranian dessert, I might try to make a cake," Starfire said sheepishly, wiping the stuff off her face," I must have done something wrong."

"How did it turn _orange_?" Cyborg asked.

"I have no idea," Beast Boy said, then morphed into a dog and gave his whole body a good shake.

"I am very sorry," Starfire said miserably," I hope you won't be offended by this." She looked at Sean with tears in her eyes.

Sean looked at the counter where what looked like a pan was underneath the orange goop. He ran a finger-tip through it and stuck it in his mouth_, not bad_, he thought.

"Why would I be, it tastes fine," he looked up at her and she beamed at him, giggling.

"Seriously?" Beast Boy walked up and did the same," Huh, what do ya know. He's right."

* * *

"So, what exactly was your alternative reason for coming here?" Raven asked after the cake incident was over.

Sean had almost forgotten," My sister," he said simply.

At that they all looked at him, Beast Boy even looked a little guilty. They were sitting in a large common room now, on the couch. Batman stood next to the far wall, which was made of nothing but glass, overlooking the ocean.

"So, you heard about that," Beast Boy said it like a statement not a question.

"Yeah," Sean nodded," She kept trying to talk me out of coming here, but I wanted to hear your side of the story."

"She knows you're here?" Cyborg asked, he seemed a little alarmed.

"Well, I had to tell somebody," Sean said, confused.

"What he means is," Raven interrupted," is that I told him about our conversation yesterday and it sounded like your dad wouldn't let you come."

"Jessie won't say anything," Sean said quickly, then turned back to Beast Boy," I just need to ask your side of the story, and I don't think it's just a coincidence that you found me, too," he turned back to Raven," Is it?"

There was a pause, while they all thought, and he watch as Raven bit her bottom lip.

Finally Batman spoke up," You might as well get it over with," he muttered.

Cyborg sighed and said simply," Guess so," and he launched into the story," Get comfortable this may take a while. Okay, this all began about a year ago when a teammate of ours, Terra, had an accident, don't ask me how but she was basically turned into a stone statue. We assumed she was dead, but then Beast Boy, found that her body had been moved, we don't know if she did it herself or if it was someone else. If that wasn't weird enough, BB saw her, your sister I mean, alive and well, but with no memory of us at all," Cyborg paused to take a breath and Beast Boy took it up.

"I kinda freaked her out. I didn't mean to I just wanted her to remember, but she pretty much ran from me after that, and I haven't spoken to her since. That was about three or so months ago," Beast Boy looked like he wasn't sure what to say next, so Raven spoke.

"After Beast Boy came back and told us about his encounter we responded to an emergency call that night at the docks. Another teammate, Robin, was thrown into the water and a crate fell on top of him. We searched everywhere but found no trace of him, it was like he just vanished. Three months passed with no clue as to where he is . . . then you show up," she looked straight at him and said," to put it bluntly Sean we're pretty sure you're Robin, and that your sister is Terra."

Raven sat back in the couch and watched him. It was quiet for a very long time. No one even noticed the wind outside. Then Sean walked over to his taped up bag.

"What are you doing?" Beast Boy asked timidly.

"I have to go," Sean said simply.

"Why?" Starfire asked, very upset.

"Because my sister was right," Sean started walking towards the door," I thought she was just exaggerating like she always does, but no, she was right-- your all crazy," he was out in the hallway now, and no one was following him yet.

He checked his watch. He had just enough time to get home. He pulled out his cell phone intending on calling the ferry, like the man had told him to do when he was ready to leave, and he was _so_ ready to leave.

"You can't leave now," said a deep voice from behind him, and Sean dropped his phone in shock. It was Batman; he was the only one who followed.

"Yes, I can, watch me," Sean said and turned to find the button to open the door. He found it and pressed it.

But, too late he realized what Batman meant by "_can't_ leave". The snow storm the news promised had come and it nearly knocked Sean off his feet, had it not been for the black clad figure behind him.

Batman caught him before he hit the ground, pulling him close," Sorry," he said over the wind," I should have been more specific." He punched in the code to close and lock the door, locked so that it wouldn't spring open from the wind again, and so Sean wouldn't try anything stupid.

Sean noticed that Batman still had his arm around his shoulders and Sean had accidently twisted so that he was leaning forward, and he was leaning on Batman. His immediate instinct was to yank himself out of his arms and stumble to the other side of the room, however rude it might be.

But something made him stop from pulling away.

Something in the back of his mind made him pull in a deep breath through his nose, let it out, and then do it again.

Suddenly, he realized what he was doing and looked up. Batman was staring at him.

"Are you all right?" he asked, pretending to ignore Sean's odd display.

Now Sean did pull away," Yes, fine," he stuttered. He tried to think of some explanation, but found none. Then the other crazies began to file in. He really didn't want to deal with any of this right now.

He _had_ to get home, _now._ Father would already be wondering where he was.

He looked at Batman," How am I gonna get home?" he pointed at the door. He was _not_ going to panic; he was going to be calm and rational.

"There's no way you're going out in _that_," Batman told him firmly, the wind howled outside as if to emphasize his point. Okay, still not panicking.

"Well, when will the storm let up?" Sean asked, as calmly as he could.

"I don't know, but when it does then you go home, not before," Batman's tone left no room for argument. Sean looked at his watch, and it nearly sent him into that horrifying panic he was trying to avoid, it was almost seven. And his curfew was eight.

He'd always thought that his and Jessie's curfew was ridicules, but Father was not the man to reason with.

He looked again at Batman, pleading," My curfew's at eight, my dad will kill me if I'm not home on time."

"Would your dad prefer you to be late getting home, or safe," Batman said kindly. Sean looked at the floor and listened to the wind.

"Hey," Sean turned to look at Beast Boy standing next to him," We won't bug you anymore with our crazy ideas, just stay and you can go when the storms over," he smiled.

Sean stared at him and sighed," No more crazy? I mean, you treating me like I'm just some random person off the street. No more talk about your missing friends or anything?"

"Exactly, you're just our guest for the afternoon," he smiled wider.

Sean looked at Batman again," Fine, but just till it blows over."

* * *

**9:00 p.m. - Titans Tower**

Now Sean was panicking. The storm did not let up, now it was worse than ever. It would probably last all night, and the thought of staying here that long made his stomach turn.

He'd just excused himself to the bathroom so he could panic privately for a minute. When he came out again, not much calmer, but more stable, Raven was waiting for him.

"Hey," she said awkwardly," Look, this storm isn't letting up anytime soon. Why don't you just stay here tonight? I'm afraid the phones aren't working, though, so you'll have to wait till morning to call your dad," when he didn't answer (because he was trying not to throw-up) she went on," I already set up a room for you, if you want to go settle in."

He was afraid to open his mouth so he just nodded.

She led him down a few more hallways and stopped at a door, and opened it.

His shoulder bag was sitting on the bed along with some towels.

"There's a bathroom down the hall to the right with a shower in it, if you want to clean up, and I even found some clothes you can sleep in, if they fit you."

"Um, thank you. You didn't have to . . ." he started.

"You're our guest and we want you to be comfortable," Raven shrugged," No matter how crazy you think we are."

He smiled as she walked away. If he was honest with himself he really kind of liked it here. He felt more relaxed here than at home. Of course he felt the same way if he got to go anywhere Father wasn't.

He stifled that thought,_ Father just worries, he loves you, he gets angry when you do stupid things, that's all._

There was definitely no calling home though; his cell wasn't getting reception either. Forget Father having a fit Jess would strangle him.

_This isn't worth it,_ he thought,_ I'll worry about it in the morning, right now I just want to go to bed._

He hadn't been sleeping well as it was, and there was nothing he could do about his situation, so why worry. He picked up the towel and the clothes and started looking for the bathroom.

* * *

His shower felt good, even though he did still have to keep the brace from getting too wet. He just cleaned around it and slipped on the clothes Raven left him. They fit perfectly.

He walked back to the room and pulled his taped-up bag to him. He had to rewrap his cut every night to avoid an infection. Usually Jess or Father helped him with it, but tonight he was on his own.

The gash ran from about his mid-thigh all the way past his knee. The brace started about where the cut ended. He started taking off the old bandage and rubbing the medicine on it like the doctor told him to. That was the easy part; the hard part was getting the new bandage on by himself.

Father had made him and Jessie start carrying a first-aid kit since the accident, not that Sean knew what he would do with it if something like that ever happened again. But it had the necessary roll of gauze he needed, so it was worth it.

Right now though he was thinking about giving up on it all together. He couldn't get the bandage to stay while he taped it into place, it kept falling.

"Need some help?" Sean jumped and realized he'd left the door open, Batman was watching him," Sorry, I couldn't help but notice."

"You're, like, _everywhere_, all the time," Sean said in disbelief," Of course you noticed."

Batman actually chuckled at that, and Sean felt that calm feeling again. Maybe insanity was contagious.

"So do you need help?" Batman pointed to Sean's leg.

"Yeah, I guess I really do," Sean said hesitantly. Batman walked up to him and wrapped it around his leg while Sean held it in place. Batman got it taped up for him and Sean finally got to sit down.

"You okay?" Batman asked, watching him.

"No," Sean just put his head on the pillow," And I'm too tired to think about it right now, so just drop it," with that he buried his face into the pillow and stayed like that.

Until he felt Batman's hand on his shoulder," It'll be all right," he gave his shoulder a little squeeze and started out of the room.

"Batman?" Sean called suddenly. He actually surprised himself.

"Yes?" Batman paused at the door, looking back.

"Do you where cologne?"

That definetly gave Batman pause," Yes, sometimes, why?"

"What kind?" Sean asked instead of answering the why. He really didn't know anyway, that's just how this whole horrible day was going.

"Atmins," Batman said slowly," Why do you ask?"

Sean thought for a minute," No reason," he whispered," Just curious."

Batman looked like he wanted to ask something else but instead just said," Good night, Sean. Sleep well." And closed the door behind him.

Sean fell asleep listening to the wind howl outside.

* * *

**A/N:** Ya'll I totally pulled that "Atmins" out of absolutely no where. Don't say anything unless you absolutely feel the need to.

Thanks and review.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Hey, um, one of my reviews made me think I may need to explain something that I wasn't really able to portray properly in the story (but I'm going to try) so let me clue you in:

Where Robin and Terra are both very brave and social and sometimes impulsive, Sean and Jessie are not. What that means is they _are_ Robin and Terra but _they_ don't know that, all they know is . . . well, I can't say too much or I'll give everything away . . . but the only character traits they know right now is Sean and Jessie's-- which is basically normalcy and in Sean's case a little timid. Sorry if I confused you but its important information, and I don't want people saying I didn't portray them right.

Because I did-- so there.

I own nothing.

* * *

Chapter 8

**7:00 Sunday Morning-Titans Tower**

The alarm went off at the normal time and Sean reached up and hit the snooze button. Father insisted they still get up at the same as they would on a school day. He said it was pure laziness to do otherwise.

That didn't mean Sean couldn't stay under the warm covers a few extra minutes. Soon Jessie would come in anyway, ever since he moved here she got him up on weekends to show him some new store she'd found. It was just an excuse for them both to get out of the house.

Finally Sean opened his eyes, he'd slept surprisingly well. The best he'd slept since he moved here.

It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust and when they finally did he bolted up-right. He stared around his room. No, not _his_ room. Where was he?

Then his brain began to catch up to his conscious self, and the events from yesterday afternoon came crashing back. He sighed, _It's all right, you spent the night in Titans Tower, you're safe._ This thought didn't give him much comfort when he thought about how mad Father would be.

But, really for someone who had woken up in an unfamiliar place, Sean felt great. Besides the worry over Father, he was actually in a pretty good mood this morning. The storm was completely gone except for the layer of snow it left behind.

Then he heard a loud crash from somewhere in the building and then yelling.

_Hm, I must be really close to the kitchen, _he thought, and immediately wondered why. What made him think the kitchen had anything to do with early morning yelling?

_My head must still be in dreamland somewhere._ He just shrugged it off and found his clothes from yesterday. When he'd gotten dressed he looked back at the clothes Raven had found him last night, and wondered where she'd gotten them. Then decided he didn't want to think about it.

He went to the bathroom she'd shown him to wash his face. To his surprise when he got to the bathroom there was a toothbrush (still in the wrapper), toothpaste, and everything else he might need. They really did have _everything_ in this place.

It was kind of nice knowing they'd thought about it, though. He hadn't thought that far ahead, as to what he would do about hygiene and all that in the morning. It's not like he'd planned on staying.

Speaking of which . . .

As soon as he got back to his room he began to search for his bag. He could have sworn he'd left it next to the door so he could get out in the fastest manner possible if he had to. No matter how good a mood he was in he still wanted out of this loony bin.

Now he couldn't find it anywhere, and he didn't know where any of the others were to ask what had happened to it. He kind of hoped they remembered that to. He had absolutely no wish to wonder these halls himself. He shuddered, what if he opened a door that went out onto the roof?

That thought made his stomach turn; he was scared to death of heights, and several other things.

Turns out his predicament was solved for him. He heard a knock on the door. He answered and was expecting to see Batman; he seemed to be everywhere anyway. But it was the pretty red-head, Starfire.

She smiled when he answered and said brightly," I wish to invite you to have breakfast with us. I remember clearly that you wanted to depart when the storm of snow had passed, but I do think you should stay at least for the day's most important meal." She beamed at him again.

For a minute Sean wondered how many people had actually declined an invitation from Starfire. With a smile like that he couldn't see anyone accomplishing it.

"Sure," he returned the smile, not nearly as big as hers, but genuine all the same. She giggled in delight and next thing he knew he was being swept by his left arm down the hall.

Suddenly he remembered his leg, or rather it_ reminded_ him, with a sharp stab of pain that shot all the way up his spine.

"OW!" he didn't mean for it to come out so loud but that's what happened. Starfire immediately stopped and turned, letting go of him. She stared at him as he clutched at the brace willing his leg to calm down.

"Oh!" she said as she realized what happened," I am sorry. I did not mean to harm you," tears welled in her eyes as he watched her," Can I help?"

He hadn't meant to make her feel bad, it wasn't her fault," It's okay Starfire, I forgot too. I should have warned you, please don't be upset," he walked past her, deciding to just change the subject," Come on you were showing me to breakfast?" he looked back at her and smiled a little.

She nodded and smiled too, and more slowly led him down the halls, to the big double doors he'd gone through yesterday in the middle of the cake explosion. The yelling and crashing was louder now.

Sean almost asked if it was all right that they go in, but he didn't. Somehow whatever was going on behind those doors was funny to him. He smiled to himself, but that quickly vanished.

Why would a war zone sound funny to him, he hated yelling? What was wrong with him?

Starfire opened the doors and they walked in. Sean immediately saw the source of the upset. Cyborg and Beast Boy were fighting over something . . . a frying pan?

"I told you I was making pancakes today, twerp!" Cyborg had the pan up in the air out of Beast Boy's reach.

"And I told _you _that_ I _was making breakfast today," Beast Boy did something Sean hadn't seen before; his whole body morphed into a green bear and toppled his entire weight onto Cyborg. Sean stared wide-eyed.

When the bear had Cyborg pinned to the floor it morphed back to the tiny green Beast Boy, who retrieved the frying pan with a gleeful," Ha ha," got up ran over to the stove.

Cyborg got up more slowly, looking very grumpy, until he spotted Sean, then he grinned.

"Morning," he said," Sorry you had to see that but I was trying to save us from eating plastic today," the last few words were obviously meant for Beast Boy.

"Don't listen to him," Beast Boy turned to look at Sean," it's tofu and it's great, he's just stuck in the past."

"Fine," Cyborg went and sat down at the table," We'll eat your nasty tofu, but I so call breakfast tomorrow."

Starfire just giggled and led Sean over to the table with Cyborg. Sean glanced around the room for the first time; they were the only one's up. He remembered his bag.

"Um, do any of you know what happened to my bag, I couldn't find it this morning when I got up," Sean said.

"Oh!" Starfire suddenly squeaked," Wait here," with that she flew out of the room.

"What is she . . .?" Sean started.

"Don't ask me, I can never figure that girl out," Cyborg shook his head.

Before Starfire got back, though, Beast Boy plopped a large plate of tofu pancakes in front of them and Raven walked through the door. She gave him a tiny smile as she passed but didn't look to be well rested.

"Thanks for the toothbrush," he said as she put a kettle onto the stove.

"Beast Boy loses his every now and then," she replied without turning," we have to keep extra."

"There," Beast Boy slid three pancakes in front of Sean," Try those and tell me there not the best things you ever had."

"Don't worry I will," Cyborg muttered, as he drowned his in syrup. BB shot him a glare that would have rivaled Raven.

Just then Starfire zoomed back into the room. She stopped right in front of them with her hands behind her back," I hope this will make up for me taking it out of your room without your knowledge," she said then pulled his bag from behind her back," but I fixed it for you."

She held it out to him proudly, and he took it. Now, where there had been a large taped up hole, was a thick line of stitching. Clumsy and redone in many places but patched up perfectly all the same.

Sean didn't know what to say," Thank you," he said quietly," you didn't have to do that."

She radiated glee after that. In order to keep from saying anything else, Sean stuck a forkful of tofu pancake in his mouth. They really weren't bad. Actually he had the strangest feeling he'd tried them before, even though he knew he hadn't.

That's what made him really want to leave this place. He'd never been here before, Jess hadn't even told him much about it, but he was perfectly comfortable here. Even the view out the windows made him have the strangest sensation of seeing it before. It scared him, it wasn't normal.

He finished his pancakes and got up to leave," I should go now," he said quietly.

"So soon?" that deep gravelly voice never failed to surprise him. He turned to look at Batman.

"Yeah, I'm already in enough trouble as it is," Sean felt the familiar turning of the stomach," thank you, though," he looked back at the Titans and tried his best to smile," the pancakes were actually really good."

"Ha!" BB pointed a fork at Cyborg.

"Would you like me to take you home?" Batman asked.

"No," Sean said it way too quickly, he tried to cover it," thank you I'll be fine," he started out the door, and then realized he didn't know the way.

A hand was placed on his shoulder," At least let me see you to the boat," Batman said kindly.

He nodded and followed Batman while calling the ferry driver. Thankfully he picked up.

Finally they reached the door. Batman unlocked it and they walked out to watch for the ferry. Sean could smell the fresh snow on the ground and in the breeze.

Suddenly the breeze made Batman's cape flutter towards him, and Sean caught a whiff of that frighteningly familiar smell. He willed the ferry to hurry up.

"Sure you don't want me to take you?" Batman asked.

"I'm sure," Sean said curtly. He could see the ferry now, it was half way across.

Batman waited until the ferry had almost landed to ask," It's an awfully long way; I'd feel a lot better if someone went with . . ."

"I said no!" Sean hadn't meant to sound hostile, but this was wrong. This was all wrong. He wasn't supposed to be here in the first place, nor was he supposed to feel comfortable around these insane people. He wanted to get off this island and back to where things made sense.

As soon as the ferry landed and without looking at Batman, he ran to the water side and jumped in before the driver had even pulled in good. The driver gave him a weird look but shrugged it off and started back to the mainland.

When they were only half-way across Sean dared to glance back, and saw Batman, looking as stoic as ever, watching the ferry fade away.

* * *

**9:00 a.m. - the Martin residence**

Sean found his house key and hesitated. He had no idea what Father would say. It was awful when he yelled, Sean hated it. But what else could he do?

Father already knew he was here from all the security features, so he slid his key in and turned the knob. He opened the door wide and walked in.

Father was sitting at the end of the entrance hall, in one of the big dining room chairs that made him look like a demonic judge. It made Sean's heart speed up.

"Close the door, Sean," Father's voice was cold and harsh. His green eyes flashed.

Sean closed the door; it shut with an echoing bang.

"Come here," Father folded his hands in front of his face, only his eyes showed now.

Sean walked up to him, trying his best not to shudder. He stopped a few feet from the chair.

"Jessica told me where you went last night," Father said simply. Sean didn't blame her if Father had looked at her like he was looking at Sean now.

"I told you that place was forbidden, did I not?" Father's eyes bored into him.

"Y-yes sir," Sean couldn't keep his voice from trembling.

"Then why did you go, explain son."

But Sean couldn't answer. His reason had been to find the whole story, but that would never hold up with Father. And the reason he'd taken the risk of going all the way over there was the knowledge Father would never find out. He couldn't answer.

Father let out a frustrated sigh and stood up, towering over Sean.

"Well?"

That single word made Sean's blood run cold.

"Jessica, come out here please," Father said without taking his eyes off of Sean. Jessie stepped into the entrance hall, looking terrified. She had dark circles under her eyes and it looked like she'd been crying.

Still keeping his gaze on Sean, Father said loud and clear," Jessica, can you think of any reason to go back to a place I said was forbidden to the both of you."

Jessie pulled in a shaky breath before answering, her voice shaky and quiet," Sean just had to see for himself, please don't be angry . . ." her voice trailed off as Father turned to her.

"Go to your room. _Now_," Father hissed. Jessie gave Sean the most apologetic look she could, and he gave her a small nod, as if to say it was okay, and she trudged back to her room.

Sean looked back at Father and he froze right down to the marrow. He'd never seen Father this angry.

"Well, Sean?" he said again.

Sean didn't answer, he couldn't. Next thing he knew he felt a hard slap to his right cheek, so hard that he stumbled into the wall.

"Answer me, boy!" Father grabbed him just above the elbow and shook him, hard.

"I-I . . . I'm s-sorry," Sean spluttered, he felt a sob rise in his throat. Father had never hit him before. He'd yelled and locked him in his room, but had never _hit_ him.

"Sorry, won't help," he held Sean close to his face as he said," I've been very patient with you, Sean, but you leave me no choice," he paused and Sean swallowed only to realize his mouth was dry," I'll have to punish you, Sean. Severely."

He pulled Sean's arm hard as he led him down a hall, ignoring Sean's cries of pain from his leg.

"I just don't understand, Sean," Father was saying," I've given you everything you could possibly want, and more, but you insist on disobeying my orders. I make these rules to keep you safe and you blatantly, disregard them."

He stopped at a door Sean didn't recognize. He pulled out a key and unlocked it, revealing a long flight of stairs.

"I'm very understanding about speaking to strangers, it is necessary to a point. But accepting an invitation to their house? I _thought_ you were smarter than that," he shoved Sean down the stairs where he lost his balance and tumbled down. He landed awkwardly at the bottom and tried to get up as he heard Father' footsteps get closer. It was pitch dark down there, another thing Sean feared.

"But now, I see, I'll have to teach you," Father snatched him up again and turned on a bare bulb in the center of the ceiling.

Now that he could see, Sean saw what looked like a normal old basement, damp, cold, and dirty. There was one addition, though.

There was a long mental bar on the opposite wall from the stairs, about halfway between the dirt floor and the ceiling. And connected to it were sets of chains with cuff attachments, like the ones in all those movies with medieval prisons. Father was pulling him toward the one in the center.

Sean was in shock; it was only when Father pushed him down on his knees and was placing his wrist in one of the thick metal cuffs did he begin to struggle.

He tried to wheel around and go back to the stairs, but Father had a tight hold around his middle, and Sean's right leg protested with every move. Sean thought of screaming and opened his mouth but nothing came out, who would come anyway?

Finally Father had both Sean's wrists in the tight metal restraints. Sean twisted and pulled but all he accomplished was rubbing his wrists raw.

Father had walked over to a door under the staircase, opened it and began pulling something out. As he closed the door Sean saw the flash of metal in the dim light. Scissors? And something that looked like a short whip.

"Hold still," Father whispered as he knelt behind Sean. He began cutting Sean's sweater off, and Sean knew what was about to happen. Sean felt the sob rise in his throat again.

The first crack of the whip immediately released it, raw and sickening, and hot pain shot diagonally across his back. The next hits brought the same, despite Sean's efforts to stay quiet.

It seemed to last hours and Father kept hitting him, until Sean was almost unconscious, too weak to struggled anymore and too stunned to cry out. But finally, when Sean was just barely able to keep himself upright, Father stopped.

Sean was finally registering the extent of his pain when Father knelt behind him again. Sean flinched at his touch but Father wrapped his strong hands around his thin shoulders and pulled him backward. Sean's breathing was ragged and his mind fuzzy with pain, so when he felt Father push his head back to rest on his shoulder he didn't object.

"Now, Sean," Father breathed into his ear," What have we learned?"

It was hard to speak his throat was so dry, so Sean's words were hoarse and scratchy," Not to . . . go with . . . strangers." He gasped between every other word. He felt like throwing up.

Father brushed the hair out of Sean's face," Good. And who are you especially never to speak to or go see again?"

"The Titans."

"And why do I make these rules Sean?"

"To . . . protect us."

"And why do I want to protect you?" Father pressed a cool hand to his cheek.

"Because . . . you love us," the word _love _stumbled on Sean's tongue. It just didn't fit here, in this dark, cold, nightmarish place.

"That's right," Father said softly," I hate to punish you like this, my boy, but you bring these things on yourself," he sighed then," I hope you've learned."

Father still had his hand on Sean's cheek. Sean couldn't help believing him," I have, sir," he wasn't sure Father heard him, but he meant it all the same.

Then Father reached into his pocket and retrieved the key to the cuffs. When he had Sean out he slid his other arm under the boy's knees and picked him up. He took him up the stairs and to the second floor bathroom where he leaned Sean against the tub while he filled it up.

Sean just closed his eyes, the pain wouldn't subside. Father picked him up and placed him in the warm water, jeans and all. A hiss escaped Sean as the water lapped at his new cuts and for the first time he felt the blood oozing down his back. His wrists stung from the chains. He sobbed again.

_You brought this on yourself._

Father cleaned his wounds and wrapped him up, finally helping him pull his wet jeans off and got him into a set of pajamas. Father carried him to his room and gave him a glass of water, which Sean drained, then laid him in the bed, tucking him in securely under the blankets.

He kissed Sean's head and walked out the door turning the light off as he went.

Sean had only one last thought before he sank into unconsciousness.

_I wonder what kind of cologne Father where's._

**Jessie's P.O.V**

She sat on her bed, her head in her hands, listening for the stairs. She knew where Father had taken Sean. The basement.

She'd only been down there once, and she'd done everything she could not to _ever_ go down there again. Father told her not to tell Sean though.

"The basement is simply a last resort for disobedient children," he'd said," Your brother shouldn't have anything to worry about if he listens to me."

Of course she did what he said. She hadn't warned Sean about the basement, and now he was down there.

_He's not down there because you didn't warn him about the basement,_ she thought miserably, _he's down there because you didn't _stop_ him from going to those people._

_But what could I do? _That's just how Sean was; he didn't like not knowing something. He wasn't nosey, just enjoyed a good problem to solve. As timid and quiet as he was he could always pluck up the courage if it meant finding something new.

The only reason Jessie was able to go to her friend's houses was because Father said she'd "earned it". He told Sean that he would have to earn the privilege as well. Jessie thought it might take longer than with her because of his boundless curiosity. Didn't he remember that dumb saying about the cat?

She sighed, Sean had crossed a huge line this time, and she felt like a true coward for letting him. But every time she thought about what else she could've done, the only thing she came up with was barring the door with her own body. With the way Sean was dead set on going he'd of just found another way out. That didn't make things better though.

Then she heard footsteps coming up the steps. A few minutes later the water in the bathtub began to run, and she swore she heard someone crying. She wanted to cry too, but that wouldn't help anything, either. The footsteps faded into Sean's room a few doors down. She knew what was coming next.

Her door was slowly pushed open. Father stood there, no longer looking frighteningly angry, but more disappointed. He walked to where she sat and sank into the desk chair beside her bed.

Her eyes were on the floor as he said," I'm not angry with you anymore, my dear girl. But I do expect better of you. I understand if you couldn't stop him, but why didn't you _tell_ me?"

Her eyes were still on the floor as she mumbled," I don't know . . . I guess I just thought he would be fine. They would never hurt anyone."

"And his traveling all that way, with his leg the way it is? Not to mention the usual dangers of this city," Father leaned forward in his chair and placed his hand on her cheek," Why do you do these things?"

"I'm sorry," she didn't know what else to say," It won't happen again, I promise."

"That's my girl," father smiled a little, then got up, kissed her cheek and walked to the door. He paused before walking out," your brother may not feel up to school tomorrow, make sure you get all of his assignments for him."

She nodded and asked," Can I see him before I go?" she didn't want him to wake up disoriented and scared like she had after the basement.

"If you want, I don't see any problem with that," he paused again then added," I'll be driving you both from now on, I don't like you walking alone." He walked out.

Of course. Walking home alone was one of the privileges Father had given them as long as they got home at a certain time. It would take forever to earn it back, if ever at all. Sean would hate that.

_It's for your own good, both of you,_ that's what Father told her and that's what she always told herself, and she couldn't help but believe it.

She sank into her pillows. After a lot of tossing and turning she fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N:** Ick, this chapter was weird, please don't shun me I'm pretty sure my idea for the next one will make up for it. Anyway, please review, and tell me if I'm getting off subject, I hate that.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Okay, I'm back to the main track, I hope. My brain keeps grabbing the wheel and trying to steer, dumb brain. Sorry, I don't own anything, and if you could just pretend you didn't see that pun, that would be awesome of you.

moyercat11 and Willowleaf2560, thank you both so much, you're so sweet. Sorry if i sound like a dork but it's true.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Jump City Academy-Monday **

Sean wasn't at school on Monday, and Jessie was driven by their dad. She picked up all his assignments from his teachers, telling them he was sick. She didn't speak to anyone unless she was spoken to. She kept her eyes on the floor when she walked down the hall, and she kept forgetting things and had to go back and get them.

What worried Raven most was Jessie's physical appearance. She'd tried to cover it with make-up, but there were dark circles under her eyes, and her shoulders slumped a little. She would stare into space for a while not noticing anything around her, or she would almost fall asleep sitting in her desk.

What had happened in that house? If Jessie had come to school like this, where was Sean?

Cyborg had suggested some of the team be staking out the school while Jessie and Sean were there. Especially today, they didn't know how much trouble they'd gotten their friends into. The others still had to deal with the normal emergencies of the city. Right now it was Raven and Beast Boy (again, heaven forbid Cyborg stick her with someone she could moderately tolerate) and, of course, Batman, standing on the edge of the roof like a breathing gargoyle.

They stood on the roof where no one would see them, but they could go and peek into a window if they needed to. Beast Boy was keeping a running commentary on the few feet of snow underfoot, and it was really starting to grate Raven's nerves. Batman seemed immune to it, lost in his own world. Raven decided she might as well ask him, that or stand there and listen to BB whine some more.

"What's got the Bat so quiet? Or, you know, quiet_er_," Raven went to stand beside him. Beast Boy moaned on.

Batman didn't say anything for a minute, then," What do you know about human senses and the memory part of the brain?" he asked.

"You're not a subtle man," Raven said dryly," I don't, though, not much anyway. I think I read something once, but I'd have to look again."

Batman just gave a noncommittal grunt.

Beast Boy came to stand by them and Raven figured he was just going to start complaining again, until, "Are you talking short-term memory or long-term?"

Batman raised an eyebrow under his mask," Either."

"Well," Beast Boy drawled slowly as if recalling something," there are all kinds of cases about long term memory, people still being afraid of loud sounds when their adults because their parents yelled a lot, or even there was a case about this girl who was always weird about bright lights because of a car wreck she'd been in," he paused when he realized he was being stared at," What?"

Raven stared for a minute longer before she asked," How do you know this?"

BB shrugged," Nothing was on T.V., except Discovery Channel, I _am_ capable of learning, Rae," he looked back at Batman," Anyway, there wasn't that much on touch, but they were saying how smell is probably the strongest sense tied to memory, something about the limbic part of the brain and emotion, it got really technical after that. Why do you ask?" Beast Boy looked at Batman.

Batman was staring over the grounds again, but this time he seemed to acknowledge the little changeling's question. He looked at them, measuring something in his head, probably them. But when he opened his mouth to answer the last bell of the day rang out, and the doors of building burst open with chattering teens.

He looked back at the grounds and instead muttered," Later."

They watched as the students ran to the buses or their parent's cars or just begin to mingle before walking home. It was so weird how completely _normal_ this place was. All the couples and smiling faces, disgusted grunts over a homework assignment. One face stood out for the three on the roof, Jessie was one of the last ones out, and stood in front of the school waiting for her father.

"Should we talk to her?" Beast Boy peered over the side of the building.

Raven was about to answer as patiently as she could, but Batman spoke.

"I think we should," he said still watching Jessie.

"Seriously?" Beast Boy looked up at him, stunned.

"Yeah, what he said," Raven stared at him," I thought you were all about keeping a low profile."

"It's either ask her what happened, or I go over there and see for myself," Batman said simply. There was no arguing with that tone.

"I'll do it," Beast Boy was almost over the side of the roof when Raven grabbed him and yanked him back.

"What happened to "she'll run for the hills if she ever saw you again"?" She hissed.

"Oh, right," Beast Boy sat down on the edge of the building, shoulders sagging.

Raven sighed," I don't suppose _you'd _want to do it?" she looked at Batman. She had to go along with this. She didn't know what this Martin psycho was actually capable of, and she knew Batman would follow through with his threat. If he got caught, however unlikely, he could really get hurt. The mind was not something to play with.

"You're the people person," he murmured, never taking his eyes off the grounds.

How had she become the people person? She hated people. She'd ponder that later, might as well get this over with.

* * *

**Jessie's P.O.V.**

She walked outside, one of that last out the doors. She'd had to find Sean's last class and get his homework. She had it all loaded in her book bag, and it was really starting to weigh down. Father was supposed to meet her in front of the school.

It had been a long day. Because of her fitful sleep she kept forgetting things. She was also anxious to get home to Sean. It was like she was just trying to get the day to speed up.

As a matter of fact she'd been in such a hurry to get out of the school she'd forgotten one of her own books, and she needed it for her homework. She sighed and hurried back into the building.

There was no one else in the halls, except the janitor, and all the teachers were on their way home or in their respective classrooms. She walked to her locker and silently spun the combination. When she opened the door she heard footsteps coming toward her. She didn't look up; it was probably just the janitor. She pulled her book out and the steps stopped, whoever it was stood just to her left, hidden behind her locker door.

"Hi," they said, in a hesitant, non-enthusiastic voice. She shut her locker and blinked. Before her stood a very dark girl, who she recognized almost immediately, as one of Beast Boy's friends. The little green boy was weird enough for her, why did his friends have to bug her too.

When she didn't say anything, the dark girl spoke again," Um, listen, I don't know if you know who I am but your brother does. I was just gonna ask if he was all right," Jessie still didn't answer," So, is he?"

Jessie couldn't say anything for a minute; she knew who this girl was. Not only was she one of the little green freak's pals, she was the girl Sean had described to her, he called her Raven. She's the one who gave him that address. This Raven was the one responsible for getting her brother in trouble. Jessie slammed her locker door with more force than necessary; she was angry.

"I know who you are. He's sick," she said curtly, trying to control this new anger. How dare this girl come here?

"Oh," Raven looked like she didn't believe that," Well, you see he seemed really upset when he left yesterday, and I was going to make sure he didn't get into too much trouble. He didn't know about the storm it wasn't his fault . . ."

"Go away," Jessie's voice didn't sound right, it sounded scary.

Raven noticed too," What?"

"Leave, now," Jessie said it slowly and clearly," Leave us alone. We want nothing to do with you, any of you," her voice was rising.

"I'm sorry," Raven was looking at her weird," We didn't mean any harm."

"I don't care," Jessie's voice steadied again, she sounded herself, only mad," Stay away from me, and stay away from my brother. Your friends are dead, deal with it," she turned before the dark girl could say anymore and ran out the door. Father was waiting for her outside in the car, right where he said he'd be.

When she got in he was looking very pleased about something," How was your day, my dear girl?"

"Fine," she said simply," How's Sean?"

"He's better, he'll be back to school by tomorrow," he smiled kindly at her. He looked like she had just earned her degree in medicine. He looked . . . proud.

"You know, Jessica," he said as he pulled out of the school," I believe I was a little harsh about you and Sean going out on your own."

That was another thing Father took away yesterday. Not only did he want to drive them to school but he didn't want them going out on weekends anymore. Much to Jessie's dismay, that was one thing that really cheered Sean up, seeing the different places, especially the bookstores.

"I will keep driving you both to school, but I don't think I should keep you both cooped up on the weekends," he glanced at her stunned expression," You promised me you would keep yourself and your brother out of trouble, if you think you can keep that promise, I'll lengthen your curfew on Saturday and Sunday, how does that sound?" he watched her from his peripheral vision.

Jessie couldn't find words. Father never let up on a punishment. This was the weirdest day ever.

"That . . . sounds great," she finally smiled for the first time in three days," Thank you, so much, Sean will be so excited."

"Thank me by showing me you can be responsible," Father pulled onto their street.

"We will, don't worry."

* * *

**Sean's P.O.V.**

_Sean was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming. He had to be. He didn't want to wake up, even though the dream should have been at least a little frightening._

_In his dream he was a little kid. He knew this because everything else seemed so big. He was running down the hallway of a huge house that he didn't recognize, but he knew exactly where he was going._

_He knew that as soon as he turned this corner there would be a door. He turned the corner and he was right. He didn't knock; he just went through and looked around. It was someone's bedroom, but he already knew that. He was looking for something, and he didn't see it._

_No. He wasn't looking for some_thing_, he was looking for some_body_. And he couldn't find them, and he was in a hurry. He knew this person was going to leave in a few minutes. Even though he knew they'd be back soon, Sean didn't want them to leave without a hug goodbye._

_Then there was a noise from another door, Sean knew it was the bathroom door, and a voice said," I'm coming Alfred, I still have plenty of time . . ." then a man stuck his head out of the door and saw Sean. This was who he was looking for. The man smiled and said," Oh, sorry, little guy. Thought you were a certain over-punctual butler," he went back into the bathroom, and Sean followed._

_He had never seen this dark-haired blue-eyed man before, and that should have sent him running. But instead Sean crawled up onto the counter the man was standing over and said," You wouldn't have left without saying goodbye, would you?"_

"_Of course not," Sean's question seemed to make the man happy. His answer made Sean happy to, happier than he could ever remember being._

_Sean watched as the man picked up a bottle of amber liquid, and applied a little to his neck._

"_What's that?" Sean asked, pointing to the bottle, now on the counter._

"_That's my cologne, little guy," he answered._

_Sean cocked his head to one side," I'm not that little. What's it for?"_

_The man turned to look at him and cocked his head to the side as well," I know you're not. It's so that I smell alright."_

"_I thought that's what baths were for," Sean looked at the bottle again," Is that why Alfred never bugs you about taking a bath?"_

"_No, I still take baths," the man turned again to look in the mirror, fixing his tie._

"_Then why do you need that?" Sean pointed to the bottle again._

_A horn honked outside, impatient. The man sighed and looked at him," It's just something grown-ups do. I have to go now. I love you," he paused and kissed Sean on the head," Mind, Alfred. See you in a few days, kiddo." _

_Sean smile," I love you, too. And don't I always mind, Alfred?"_

_At that the man gave him a look, and the horn went off again. He gave Sean one last warning stare and hurried out._

_Sean almost followed in order to see him to the door, but he had an idea. Mischievously, he ran to the bedroom door and looked out, no one there. _

_Carefully, he crawled back up on the counter. He picked up the bottle of cologne, and slipped it into his pajama pocket. He'd bring it back, but he wanted to try an experiment first. If he smelled really good maybe Alfred wouldn't make him take a bath tonight. He giggled and followed this brilliant child logic. He ran to his room, and into his own bathroom._

_Closing the door to his bedroom, he pulled out the decorated little bottle and opened it. He put his nose right above the opening, and took a long sniff. He coughed, and made a mental note not to do that again. It smelled good, but it was way strong if you put on too much apparently. He guessed that was why Bruce had only put on a little._

_Somewhere, outside of Sean's subconscious, he wondered why he thought the man's name was Bruce, but this thought didn't form in his dream._

_In his dream he was climbing up onto a small stool that let him see over the counter into his own bathroom mirror. He put just little of the liquid on his neck like he'd seen Bruce do, and set the open bottle on the counter._

_Just then he heard someone coming. Alfred, uh, oh. The door knob turned, and he spun around to hide the bottle, but, to his dismay, he knocked it over, and it spilled out all over the floor._

"_Oh, crud," he said to himself._

_Alfred was still calling him," Richard are you in here?" the butler had walked inside the bedroom, and, not seeing Sean there, walked into the bathroom. Why hadn't Sean thought to close the door to the bathroom?_

_No matter, the butler walked in saying," You haven't even eaten breakfast yet . . ." he stopped when the smell hit him. He looked at the floor, then at Sean's guilty face and said," Not even waiting until noon, Master Richard?"_

"_Um, sorry?" Sean said and watched the butler's face. By his look he was more amused than angry._

_He chuckled and said," It's all right we'll clean it up . . . . . ."_

The dream cut off. Sean woke to an excited knocking on his door. He was back in Father's house, back in reality.

"Come in," he called, and then tried to sit up. He gasped. It hurt so much. His whole body hurt to move, and during the dream he'd forgotten about his pain that very morning, when Jessie woke him.

It was Jessie who walked in now," Feeling all right?" she asked as he leaned back on the pillows.

He shrugged, then winced," I'm better." He couldn't get over the dream. It all seemed so real to him, like a memory.

"Guess what," Jessie was all excited about something, and she was bursting to tell him.

"I give up," he said calmly, might as well let her have her fun.

"Okay, you know how this morning, I told you dad wouldn't let us walk anywhere on our own anymore?" She was actually waiting for the answer to a rhetorical question.

He smiled," Yes, Jessie, I remember."

"Well, he told me that he changed his mind and we can still go out on the weekends. He's still gonna drive us to school, but we get a later curfew Saturday and Sunday to make up for it," her smile was radiant.

Sean was shocked," What made him change his mind?"

"I have no idea," she said, still smiling," He picked me up from school and told me, but this is so great! I can still show you that new bookstore and this amazing pizza place . . ."

Sean listened, and as excited as he was about being able to leave the house, he couldn't get the dream out of his head. Who the heck were Bruce and Alfred? And where did he get Richard? He tried to shrug it off as his subconscious running away with him. It was still so strange though.

Once Jessie had told him about all the places she would take him and gave him his homework, she left to let him rest.

Before she walked out the door though, she stopped and grabbed his shoulder bag from the floor.

"You keep your school stuff in here, right?" she moved to hand it to him, but stopped. She looked at it weird then pointed to the once broken seam," When did you patch that?"

Sean almost told her about the pretty alien girl fixing it, but stopped. He knew she'd be angry, and she might even tell Father.

"I did that today, had some time on my hands," he lied. She smiled and handed it to him.

"Glad you found a new hobby," she gave it a last glance," But don't quit your day job just yet." With that she left.

Sean watched the door for a while. Then turned to his bag, running his finger over the mended seam. It really was kind of her . . .

He sighed and opened it. He might as well get his homework done; hopefully his teachers hadn't gone over anything new. He rummaged for his pencil case and couldn't find it. After a minute he just dumped the whole thing out onto his bed.

There, it had been way down in the bottom. He picked it up along with his notebook. As he did something caught his eye. Something he didn't recognize. He put down his school things and picked it up.

It was a tiny bat, completely black, and attached to it was a note.

_If you ever need anything, all you have to do is call. Just press the red button._

There was no name, but he knew who it was from. Who wouldn't? For a moment he was angry. He hardly knew this man and he was already acting like some protective uncle . . . or father. Painfully, he got up to throw it in the trash, but when it landed in the basket he looked at it again.

He picked it back up, holding it in the palm of his hand. It was small enough to fit almost anywhere. He popped open the cover, and saw the red button, there were a few others that he had no idea how to work. Maybe it was some kind of tracker. He closed the cover as the anger drained from him completely. He thought back to his dream.

It really wasn't hurting anything if he kept it. Father didn't have to know, neither did Jessie. This was his secret. He closed his hand around it and walked back to the bed. His secret, his alone. He slipped it into his bedside table drawer. Then thought better of it. He pulled it back out and found some string. He tied around the little thing, so it wouldn't fall off, and slipped it around his neck. Tucking it securely under his shirt he pulled his books back toward him.

He could almost smell Batman's cologne.

* * *

**A/N:** This may be a bad place to end it but I'm getting a headache. Tell me about in a review.

Oh, and I don't own Discovery Channel either, I didn't even get my information from there, but it is an awesome channel. Next chapter soon. Ta ta.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** I'm updating because someone threatened me with zombies, rope 'em in I'm writing.

I don't own anything, but maybe if I had my own zombie army . . .

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**Monday Night-Titans Tower**

"What did you _say_ to her?"

Raven, Beast Boy, and Batman had gotten back from the school at least two hours ago. Raven had explained what had happened with Jessie, probably a dozen times . . . every other minute. Everyone just kept firing those questions. She figured the Bat had finally gotten sick of it because he'd run off to his room twenty minutes in. Starfire hovered next to the couch beside Beast Boy. Wonder Woman and Superman stood at the other side of the room, looking a little less out of place than they had a few days ago.

"I _told_ you. I asked how Sean was and told her it wasn't his fault about staying out all night. She freaked. She ran. What more can I tell you?" Raven was about to strangle Cyborg. They were all getting impatient with the whole situation, but _he_ kept trying to get information where there wasn't any. Well, if Raven was honest, she didn't actually _know_ there was no information. She just had to be sure before she got everyone's hopes up.

Cyborg was about to start in on another round of repetitive questions when Raven decided she'd had enough," Cyborg, can I just give you an opinion?"

That caught him off guard," Yeah, sure."

"We should leave them alone," Raven said bluntly, no change in tone.

"What?" the word was said in unison by everyone in the room.

Raven sighed," Look, we're not going to get anywhere by getting them into trouble and following them around. You know as much as I do that "Sean's sick" story is a load of crap. This Martin psycho did something, and I dread to find out what. So until we know without a doubt what we're working with here, let's just leave them alone," she said the last words slowly and deliberately.

They were all staring at her as if she'd grown a few extra limbs.

Starfire began to look angry, "So we just give up?" her eyes even started to glow.

"That's not what I said Star," Raven was trying very hard to keep her patience intact," I just mean to give them time to stop hating us."

"I guess that sort of makes sense," Wonder Woman startled them, Raven had forgotten she was there," you wouldn't want them to be completely against your help when you really have some to offer."

They all looked at each other, even Starfire calmed down enough to give a tiny nod," I could not live with myself with one of my best friends hating me," she said miserably.

"Leave them alone for how long?" Beast Boy asked anxiously.

"Until I know how to fix this," Raven said, and with a determined look she walked to her room.

* * *

Raven knew a lot about mind-control and mind-reading. But even the strongest of either practice shouldn't be enough to block her connection with Robin. The fact that she couldn't figure it out frustrated her beyond belief.

She was in her room searching through mounds of ancient mythology, when there was a knock on her door. She growled and went to the door.

She had expected to see one of her own teammates, but Wonder Woman stood in her doorway," I thought you could use some help. Here," she said to a shocked Raven, and held out a book.

Raven took it. It was very old, but in pretty good shape, bound in some sort of animal skin, and held together with giant gold clasps. The title could no longer be read, but when Raven opened it, it was written in Greek, or some form of it anyway.

"What is this?" she looked up at the beautiful Amazon.

"It's a mythological history book, of sorts," Wonder Woman took it back and flipped through the pages," I had it sent to me from home, I remembered reading something in here I thought would greatly interest you," she found the page and handed the book back to Raven, pointing to a worn picture," this is Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory."

* * *

Batman came into the room not long after Raven and Wonder Woman left. Starfire had taken up residence on the end of the couch. Beast Boy and Cyborg were trying to have a conversation with Superman, that wasn't working out so well.

It was a relief when Batman looked at Beast Boy and said," You remember that question you asked me?"

"Uuhhhh . . . no, not really," was all the little changeling could say.

Batman didn't look annoyed as he answered, which meant he had found something," About memory and human senses?"

It dawned on BB then," Oh, right! Why did you ask about that anyway?"

"When Sean was here he asked me what cologne I where, I had no idea why until now, I double checked the bit of information you gave me and it's true, smell is the strongest sense tied to memory," Batman paused to get a breath and Superman spoke.

"He recognized your cologne?"

"Well, when he was eight he spilled a bottle of it all over his bathroom floor," they could almost see a flicker of a smile on Batman's face," no matter how many times we washed it that smell would_ not_ come out, it's very possible," he did sound certain.

"Well, that's good, right?" Beast Boy bounced a little on the couch.

"Yes," Batman said slowly," but I don't think that's enough. And there aren't a whole lot of scents, that I recall, that would summon the same reaction. We'll have to find something else."

"Well not anytime soon," Cyborg said grudgingly," Sorry but you missed the vote. Apparently we're supposed to leave them alone."

"What do you mean?" Batman's expression went back to the stony carving.

"According to our resident Goth, we are not to get to close until she knows exactly what we're working with," Cyborg said it in a resigned sort of way.

"Which is right now!" they all started as Raven blew through the door, Wonder Woman right behind her. Raven was carrying one of the biggest books Beast boy had ever seen.

She had a very excited look on her face as she said," I know what he is." She placed the book on the coffee table so they could all see a faded portrait of a woman. On the page beside it was hand written symbols that none of them recognized, but obviously Raven did.

"You mean Dr. Martin right?" Beast Boy stared at the enormous volume.

"Of course, who else?" Raven said impatiently," Now be quiet and listen up. Diana brought me this."

Silently Batman mouthed to Wonder Woman _Diana?_

She shrugged and whispered," Wonder Woman is such a long title."

Raven had started talking again, she was pointing to the portrait," This is the mythological Greek goddess of memory, Mnemosyne. I'm not actually sure how much truth there is to this, but when I followed this train of thought in my own collection, I found something," she took out another book, much smaller and set it on top, and began to read aloud,

_Ancient belief and folklore tells of a powerful source of mind power. The ancient Greeks believed that one of the muses, the daughters of Mnemosyne, had a child, and this child had certain powers over the mind if he chose to use them._

_It is said he could alter a person's memory, but only by certain means. He cannot control another humans mind, but can make them think in specific ways. He can even give them memories they never had. _

Raven stopped and looked up," This book doesn't say much more about it, but I can see the basic idea. I think that our doc is from whatever line their talking about, and he inherited the gene."

She paused to gather her thoughts and Beast Boy asked," But what does it mean by, he can do all that "only by certain means"?"

Raven thought then said slowly," I think it means that the victim has to already have a reason for wanting their memory altered."

"Wait you think Terra and Robin did this willingly?" Batman asked roughly.

This time something in the room blew up as Raven tried to keep calm," I don't know! You're getting ahead of me."

They backed off as she gathered her thoughts again," The books basically say that, by himself, he can alter memories. And even with that the victim has to have a strong reason, whether they know it or admit it or not, to want their memories altered. If they don't, and they have a firm, stable mind, it would be harder for him to use his power on them. What I think he's done is found a way to enhance his powers."

Raven paused for a second, studying her book again, then said slowly," The text tells of ways he could have done it. But he would still need a reason to go after who he did. A reason for them to want to forget something." She stopped again, thinking.

The room was silent, until Beast Boy said, as if from a hundred miles away, "Guilt."

Raven's head snapped up," What?"

Beast Boy said it again," Guilt. Or at least in Terra's case. She felt horrible over what happened, who _wouldn't _want to forget it?"

Raven thought about it," That does make sense. Any emotion strong enough would work. But how would he enhance his hold on them? All the ways in here are highly unstable."

Wonder Woman brushed the hair out of her eyes absently as she said," There several myths about certain stones and herbs capable of such things. They're usually just old tales."

"Not to mention all the science knowledge that guy has," Cyborg said.

"That's true," Raven chewed her thumbnail," but how do we reverse this?"

* * *

The whole time Batman had been very quiet. He almost didn't catch the rest of the conversation.

Guilt. What could Robin have to be guilty about? His team couldn't think of anything. Unless . . .

Bruce didn't finish the thought. There was no way Robin blamed himself for what happened. But then, Richard often blamed himself for a lot of things.

_How could you Richard . . ._

They started talking of ways to reverse it. Bruce couldn't focus right now; Clark or someone could fill him in later. He silently slipped from the room. No one noticed.

He didn't know what to do, which was rather a first for Batman, in a long time. He knew what he _wanted_ to do. He wanted to race to that house as fast as he could and kill the psycho responsible for all this. He would have if he thought it would help.

He'd given Sean the alarm. That was a slight comfort to him, if Sean didn't throw it away. Raven said they shouldn't bother them for a while. He wouldn't, unless Sean asked him to.

He could wait.

* * *

**Saturday **

Sean made it through the rest of the week all right. He didn't have gym this semester, thankfully, so there was no awkward excuse to sit out. Other than covering his scarred wrists with a thick banded watch and a leather strap/bracelet thing, it wasn't that bad. His leg was almost fully healed. He was sore but it was easy to manage. Strangely enough there were no unexpected visits from the Titans . . . or Batman. He didn't know why he thought about that, he was forbidden to talk to them anyway.

Finally it was the weekend, and Jessie had dragged him out of the house for their normal Saturday ritual. She took him to several new stores that he didn't have that much interest in, until they got to the book store. He'd enjoyed that one enough to not want to leave; he knew Jessie had saved it for last so he wouldn't have to suffer through her shoe stores.

"Listen, you'll probably take up the better part of the afternoon in here," She said," So just meet me in front of the bank, at say 9:30."

He nodded," Bank, 9:30, got it." Their extended curfew went to 11:00 at the latest, they were both ecstatic about it, but they didn't want to push their luck. They were going to get home early to show they could be responsible. The bus ride home only took thirty minutes, but they were being overly-cautious and accounting for any delays.

Jessie walked out of the store leaving Sean to his reading. He felt a little uncomfortable being alone after a week of having nearly every move watched by Father. He did what he always did when he felt this way. He reached up and touched the tiny lump under his shirt, the Batman's odd gift. It comforted him in a way he couldn't explain, and he was still a little afraid of the feeling.

Especially lately, he'd started feeling a new emotion every time he touched the little gadget. He couldn't explain that one either, he couldn't even name it. It crept in the bottom of his stomach, and tugged at the back of his mind. He let go of the trinket, and picked up another book.

Sean's mind kept wandering. Back to everything that had happened that week. Every time Father dropped him off at school he'd put both hands on Sean's shoulders and say," I love you, son. You believe that don't you?"

Every time, Sean had answered," Yes, I know."And at first he'd wanted to say "I love you, too" but he never did. He didn't feel bad about it either. Sean often wondered if Father knew that.

Sean sighed. There was no way he could concentrate on reading. He picked up the books he'd already chosen and bought them. He'd just be early to the meeting place. Walking out of the store he readjusted his watch and the leather thing on his wrists. Shoulder bag now fully loaded with new books, he set out into the streets. It was getting dark fast, and the people were thinning out.

This made Sean even more uncomfortable, because to get to the bank he had to pass a lot of dark alleys, where he was sure someone was hiding. Just touching the little bat around his neck wasn't helping as he passed the first dark passages, so he pulled it out so he could hold it in his hand. That was better.

The bank was in sight and Sean breathed a sigh of relief . . . much too soon.

Of course something would happen in the very last alley. A hand reached out from the dark and grabbed Sean by the arm. Before he could cry out he was slammed against a wall with a hand over his mouth and a knife to his throat.

A rough voice spoke," Hey, there little guy, kids as small as you shouldn't wander the streets at night," it crooned. Sean could smell his breath, the man was drunk. There were footsteps behind him. Sean tried to tell him that he could just take any money he had or whatever, but he couldn't speak, and he didn't think the man really wanted money.

"Aw, Len, why you gotta go and scare the kids like that?" another man, and he didn't sound any less drunk or there to help.

"You can't blame me for havin' a little fun, man," the knife man said," 'Sides I was only gonna cut him up a little bit," he put the knife to Sean's side and started to press.

Sean did to, and the little bat in his hand blinked. The men didn't notice. In fact the man's hand had slid from Sean's mouth to his throat, cutting off Sean's air supply. Sean tried to kick the man in the gut but only got enough momentum to hit him in the knee. It didn't bother him at all. Sean's head felt light and the man was laughing.

Sean heard his shirt rip and felt the knife begin to dig into his side. He managed to make a tiny yelp, which came out as more of a gurgle, and that made the men laugh more. Sean's already limited vision began to fade, but just as he began to black out the pressure on his throat lifted, and he dropped to the ground.

As Sean sat there coughing and sputtering there were several noises, mostly from the drunk men. Shouts, a low threat, and finally the sickening crack of metal hitting flesh, and then quiet. Sean decided it was safe to look up now, he already knew who he would find anyway.

Batman was tying the men to a busted light post, they looked unconscious. He kept glancing up at Sean. When he was done he hurried over to Sean, the Bat almost looked anxious over the whole ordeal. Why? Didn't he deal with this stuff all the time?

Sean spoke as Batman knelt beside him," I'm sorry." He wasn't sure why he'd said that.

"For what?" Batman was just as confused," This is why I gave you that thing. Are you hurt? What were you doing out here by yourself anyway?"

Sean's head was still spinning and Batman's rapid fire questions weren't helping. So Sean just said," I'm not hurt, just a little blood that's all."

"Where?" Batman looked a little angry at the idea. Sean ignored it, and showed him his side.

Batman sighed and pulled something out of his belt, "What were you doing out here?"

Sean leaned against the wall," Going to meet my sister in front of the bank, we were headed home." Sean had the sudden realization that he had just called Batman, he was speaking to him, and he had just promised Father he wouldn't. That thought made him stiffen as Batman patched his newest wound.

Batman felt it and looked up at him," Did I hurt you?" he asked.

"I'm not supposed to be talking to you, that's all," Sean looked away from Batman, but he could feel Batman watching him.

"You do everything he says, don't you?" the question caught Sean off guard.

"You mean my father? Of course I do," he said.

"Why?" Batman was still watching him.

"Because, he . . ." Sean stopped. He didn't want to say _because he's my father_. He didn't like that reason.

Batman finally looked away," I think it's patched up."

"Thanks," Sean whispered," for you know," he nodded to the two still tied to a pole," everything."

"It's my job," Batman helped Sean up.

"You give everyone you meet their own Bat signal?" Sean held up the tiny devise. Batman had no answer to that.

They were quiet as Batman thought, and for the second time since he'd met him, Sean noticed how frightening the Dark Knight really was. And how it didn't bother him one bit.

"Let me take you the rest of the way," Batman said suddenly.

Sean pointed in the direction of the bank," It's only a few blocks . . ."

"I know," Batman looked like he was up to something," But I'm not letting you walk the rest of the way alone." He had that no arguing tone again.

Sean just shrugged and started walking," Fine, come-on," Batman didn't budge.

"Why don't we take _my_ way?" he asked slowly. Sean turned to look at him.

"Which is . . .?" Batman gestured for him to come back.

When Sean was close enough, the Bat bent forward a little, and whispered," Hang on."

Sean stared at him," What . . . Hey!" in an instant Batman had grabbed him around his middle and Sean heard a swishing sound, and then felt a jerk. He suddenly realized what Batman meant by _hang on_.

They were in the air the next second and Sean finally wrapped his arms around Batman's neck, and hung on for dear life. He buried his face in Batman's neck in effort not to look down. The still winter air whipped around them, threatening to blow them away, in Sean's panicked opinion. They landed somewhere and Sean was about to rip himself out of Batman's hold, when they took off again. Sean held tighter. He hated, hated, _HATED_ heights.

Batman repeated this maneuver a few more times, until it seemed like they had finally stopped. Sean still couldn't let go. Batman was a great deal taller than Sean, so when they did land Sean's feet weren't touching the ground. He had no idea if this lunatic was dangling him from a roof or heaven knew what.

"Sean?" Batman sounded a little off," you can let go now, it's all right." Sean shook his head, still buried in the Bat's cape.

"Where are we?" Sean asked, voice shaking and muffled. He thought he knew the answer.

"We're on top of the bank," Batman said," Don't worry, kiddo, I'm not gonna drop you."

"Can't . . . scared," That was all Sean could get out, he had that about-to-throw-up-feeling again. He could feel his hands start to shake.

"You're afraid of heights?" Batman sounded pretty shocked by the idea. Sean wanted to say something really condescending, but all he could do was nod into the Bat's shoulder.

Batman shifted, and then Sean felt his feet settle into the snow-covered roof. He almost gagged, he was on a _roof_. And the bank wasn't exactly a _small_ building. Sean didn't lift his face, so Batman spoke.

"Just take one look Sean," he said softly.

Sean shook his head again," Take me back to the ground."

"Only after you look," Batman wrapped his arms tight around Sean, and spun him around," I promise I won't let go. Just one look." He sounded so sincere.

Sean took another minute, his eyes still closed. This could not be happening.

"You promised," Sean whispered, and opened his eyes; his breath caught. It was amazing. He was looking out over the city. Most of the buildings were smaller, and the snow glistened in the afternoon light. It reflected the setting sun, the amber, and pinks and purples. The scattered stars that were already out glinted off the rooftops. When he looked down at the now tiny people and cars, he suddenly remembered how high up they were, and found that he really didn't care.

That scared him even more. For as long as he could remember he had been scared to death of heights. He didn't even look back when he climbed stairs for fear of falling. And here he was, with a stranger no less, on top of a ten story building, looking out over the city. He looked down. What would Father have to say about this?

All this time Batman was patiently waiting," So? What do you think?" he whispered, his arms still protectively holding Sean.

Sean didn't answer immediately. Batman must've taken that as a bad sign," You're still scared," he said it as a disappointing statement not a question.

Sean spun around to face him," No," he said quickly," I'm not," he felt so shaky," it's just . . . this isn't right. For as long as I can remember, I've been afraid of heights . . ." Sean didn't know how to finish. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, trying to focus his thoughts.

Suddenly he felt Batman grab his right arm, the one with the thick banded watch on it. It wasn't a painful hold, but firm, and Batman was staring at it. Sean looked up to see what he was staring at. To his horror he saw that his watch had slid up his arm, the scares showed plain as day. He pulled on his arm, trying to get it back but that was useless, Batman's grip was too strong.

"What happened . . ." Batman's voice died, and he finally tore his eyes from Sean's wrist to his horrified face," He did this to you," again it was a statement not a question. Sean knew who he was talking about, and try as he might he couldn't deny it.

Batman didn't let go of his arm," You weren't lying when you said he'd be mad." Batman sounded mad, very mad.

"He just worries, I deserved it," Sean shouldn't have said that, he just blurted it out. Batman's face was furious. Sean couldn't see his eyes, but he could tell. "Why are you angry?"

That caught Batman off guard," He hurt you," he said simply," I thought you were at least _safe_ where you were, but I was wrong. How can you say you deserved _this_?" He took Sean's other wrist and pushed back the strap," What else did he do? This so called _father _of yours."

Sean was starting to get angry himself, he successfully snatched his arms away," I want to get down now."

"So you can go back to that house and he can do it over again? Not a chance," Batman's voice was rising.

"Fine! I'll find my own way down," Sean backed away from the Dark Knight and looked around for a fire-escape, or something. Obviously, he didn't know a whole lot about roofs. He saw a ladder thing, and as unwilling as he was to climb down it, it beat staying here.

As he walked toward it Batman spoke again," Why did you keep it?"

Sean couldn't help himself, he turned," Keep what?"

"The alarm," he pointed to the tiny bat still in Sean's hand," and why are you still holding it?"

Sean stared at him. He wanted to give him a logical answer, but he couldn't. That's what always happened with Batman, nothing was logical. The crazy emotions he couldn't explain, the cologne, the comfort of just having the little alarm, even now as Sean stood their staring at him, the odd creeping feeling came into his stomach, tugging at his mind like something he needed to say but forgot. Sean couldn't answer.

Batman didn't stop there," Why did you call me? You knew your father would disapprove, no matter what the situation."

"He worries . . ." Sean tried to sound confident, but came as a murmured defense, blown away with the wind. Sean turned back to the ladder, studying it, mostly so he didn't have to look at Batman anymore. He suddenly thought of his dream. His head was spinning again, Sean hadn't thought about that all week, why had it come back now? He really felt dizzy.

Batman had walked up behind him," Think about it Sean. Do you really want to go back to that house?" his voice was quiet. Sean knew that voice, from somewhere other than his few meetings with Batman. He wrapped his arms around his chest, his head ached.

Sean almost whispered," Who is Bruce?"

Batman was very quiet for a very long time, until Sean turned," Who is Bruce?" his voice rose over the wind that had picked up, it was darker.

When Batman still didn't answer, Sean put it together," I spilled the bottle." He didn't say it for Batman; it was just something that dawned on him. Suddenly Sean found himself sitting in the snow, head pounding. Batman was by his side in a second, holding Sean's trembling frame.

Sean was still staring at Batman's face, and for some reason, he reached up, touching the cowl. Sean's head was hurting and his blood rushing through his ears was making more noise than the wind. Batman reached up and put his hand over Sean's . . . and slid the cowl away.

_Well, _Sean thought vaguely, _that answered my question._ He stared into blue eyes. Bruce's eyes, the one's in that strangely familiar dream. Sean was having trouble keeping himself upright. He leaned fully onto Batman . . . no . . . Bruce. Bruce held him close.

"It's okay," he whispered to Sean," It's all going to be okay."

Sean looked back up at him," I don't want to go home anymore," it came out childish and a bit slurred, but Sean didn't care. His head hurt, he felt like he was going to pass out.

Bruce held him tighter," You don't have to. I'll take care of you. I promise." Sean believed him.

* * *

It was 9:40. Jessie had checked her watch a dozen times. It wasn't like Sean to be late, ever. Something had happened. All the worst possibilities rolled through Jessie's head, as they always did when she worried.

Mugged, shot, lost, tied to a giant cement block and drowned? Okay, that last one she got from a movie, and Sean had no ties to any mafia that she knew of, but still.

9:45, where _was_ he. She was going to kill him herself.

Finally (at exactly 9:47) she saw someone walking toward her, two some ones actually, one leaning heavily on the other. It was Sean doing the leaning, and the second figure nearly made her heart stop.

She ran up to them," What did you do?!" she nearly screamed it at the Batman. He didn't look surprised as he and Sean stopped.

She was about to yell at him again when Sean spoke," It's okay Jess, I'm not hurt." He was come to Batman's defense. Jessie stared at him.

"You don't look not hurt," she said simply," Whatever, come on. We're going home, _now_." She reached for him, he didn't move from Batman's side.

He looked very tired when he said," I'm not going home Jessie." She blinked at him.

"What?" she looked accusingly at Batman. He stared right back. Jessie looked back to Sean," Don't tell me you _believe_ all this insanity. Sean their all crazy! You can't . . . "

"I can," Sean said firmly," I'm not going to try and explain why. But I can't go back to that house, Jessie." He paused for a while and looked pleadingly at her," And I want you to come with me. Please Jess."

Jessie could've slapped him. No, she could've slapped Batman, he was obviously the culprit. She thought about what Sean had said. Father would be furious.

But she couldn't let her brother do something stupid without someone watching his back. They were waiting for her answer.

Jessie shook her head in disbelief," I leave you alone for a few _minutes_ and all heck breaks loose," she sighed," Fine, I'll come. But only because you can't be trusted alone." The end of her sentence almost didn't make it through Sean's delighted hug.

She knew she would regret this.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm not sure if I like ending the chapter here but if I make it any longer I'll practically have the story finished, and where's the fun in that?

About the "goddess of memory" the name and a few other things I didn't make up, but other things I did. Sorry if you got confused, but I tried to make it as clear as possible. So please review if you did, and I'll try and fix it in the next chapter.

Thanks for your reviews so far! Your all awesome.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Okay, now I'm being threatened with a zombie army, vampires, and evil leprechauns! Haven't any of you heard of catching more flies with honey (yeah, I know who would want to catch flies, and I think they pretty much live off of dead things anyway. But still!)?

Oh, never mind I'll just hide out in my bunker a few more days (darn, I'm running out of peanut-butter).

The zombies wouldn't help me, so I still don't own anything. Maybe I'll ask the leprechauns.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Sean still felt weak and every once in a while a shiver would pass up his spine that he knew wasn't from the freezing night air. Tired couldn't begin to cover how he felt. It was like whatever revelation had come over him took all his energy with it. Batman, he still wasn't comfortable with calling him Bruce or knew if that was even appropriate, had carried him down off the roof of the bank (he was also still getting used to knowing he had been on a roof and not had a heart attack), and was still helping him walk back to the giant T shaped tower.

Jessie walked beside them, steadily casting hostile glances at Batman. Even though he was mostly leaning on Batman, Jessie was sure to keep one protective hand on Sean's shoulder and even took his heavy bag from him (not without telling him he should quit carrying that old thing around). But there was one thing that still bothered Sean about the Batman.

"Batman?" Sean slowed their pace so he could look up at him and hopefully not stumble over his own two feet.

"Yes?"

"How did you get here so fast? That ferry to and from the island isn't exactly rocket powered, and it's no short trip here," Sean saw something like a smile flicker at the corners of the Bat's mouth.

"Just a second," was all he said. Jessie gave an irritated huff. She hated answers that didn't answer the question.

Batman turned right, around corner onto a darker street and stopped, "Stay close," he said and pressed something on his belt. Nothing happened . . . for a minute. Just as Jessie was about to give another irritated comment a revving sound was heard, then the screeching of tires. Jessie's comment died in her throat as a long, black, tank of a car came around the other side of the street. It parked neatly right in front of them, engine rumbling.

"That's how," Batman started toward the vehicle, gently keeping a dazed Sean on his feet, when Jessie found her voice.

"We are _not_ getting in that thing!" she pointed to the machine like it had committed a murder.

"Jess," Sean was too exhausted to humor her, "please don't tell me you have something against cars."

"I have no problem with _cars_," she glared at him," I have a problem with this guy's car, and being in it _with_ him," she said it like it should have been obvious.

"Jessie, I don't know all the facts here, but I'm pretty sure this is the safest car, and maybe the safest driver in the country, so please, just get in," Sean started toward the car again, this time unaided, and the passenger door popped open on its own. That gave him a bit of pause, and then he decided he didn't care and got in. Batman walked around and the driver side door did the same and so did the backseat door, waiting for Jessie.

She sighed and carefully folded herself into the seat, immediately buckling the seat belt. All three doors closed, and Batman hit the gas, causing Sean to suddenly doubt his "safe driver" comment.

The water was in sight in no time, and Sean was sure they would stop but the Bat kept going.

"Um, what are you . . .?" Sean started.

"Just wait," Batman really enjoyed guessing games. The car suddenly made a whirring sound and the dash began o blink _AQUATIC MODE: __**ON. **_They hit the water, and sped over the surface. Sean glanced out the window and saw that the tires had changed into something resembling skies, but didn't have time to really investigate for they were suddenly on the island, and the tires were rubber again. The Bat parked and turned the engine off as the doors popped open again.

It was very dark by now, but the Tower still glowed. Jessie jumped out quickly, while Sean came more slowly, he was still pretty sore when he moved the wrong way. Batman was beside him instantly, letting Sean use him as a crutch once more, much to Jessie's irritation. Sean wanted more than anything to just sleep.

Jessie followed slowly as they made it to the door, and Batman didn't even have to knock. Raven stood in the open doorway, with Wonder Woman just behind her.

"Hey," Batman greeted them, "Look who I found."

* * *

10:28. Soon it would be too late to turn back. Not that Sean wanted to, but he couldn't help thinking it. He'd already found out what happened when you broke curfew once, and it made his stomach turn to think what would happen the second time.

He and Jessie were sitting on the couch in the Titan's common room. Jessie kept looking around like she expected an ambush of some kind. Sean was surprisingly comfortable here. Raven and Wonder Woman were the only other people home; the others needed some air. Sean could see why.

The common room had been turned into some sort of library for all things weird and unusual. There were tons of old books on what looked like Greek mythology. Father had a lot of stuff like that too. He kept all of it in his office, where Jessie and Sean never went, but Sean had caught glimpses of through the opened door.

The others, Batman, Raven, and Wonder Woman, were in the hallway . . . discussing something. Sean didn't know why they bothered, they where almost yelling. He could catch snippets of their conversation through the door, except Batman, who seemed very calm about the whole situation.

"What happened to_ just leave them alone_?" that was Raven. Jessie huffed in agreement at the closed door.

Batman said something in his low rumble that Sean couldn't make out.

"What do you mean he _called_ you?" Wonder Woman then.

Batman didn't have time to answer before Raven blurted, "Oh, duh! Why didn't I think to give him a communicator?" it sounded like something in the building shattered then but Sean couldn't be sure.

They spoke lower then, and Sean was too tired to really listen. So, instead, he looked at his sister, and hopefully stay awake.

"Jess, quit it," she was doing that ambush look-out again, "No one is going to hurt you."

She sighed, "I know," she hugged her arms around her middle, "I just . . . oh, I don't know . . . it's stupid."

Jessie found a spot on the floor and starred at it. Sean decided to push, it was that or fall asleep.

"What is it Jess?" Sean stifled a yawn, "What makes you so hostile about this place? About these people? What did they do to you anyway?"

"They didn't _do_ anything," she said quietly, "But . . . have you ever been somewhere that feels wrong?" she looked at him, "I know it sounds weird, but this place, and these people, especially the little green one, Beast Boy, it all makes me feel . . . strange . . . too strange for comfort," she glanced around again and shook her head, "Besides, that doesn't matter. What are we going to tell Father?"

"You can tell him whatever you like," Sean said, "It really doesn't matter to me."

"Sean," Jessie had that stern voice again, "What exactly are you planning on doing here? We can't stay here. We have to go home sometime. And do you have any idea what Father's going to do . . ." her voice died and she looked away.

"Yeah, Jess, I've thought about it," Sean said quietly, "Which is why I'm not going back. You're right. Something weird is going on here, but I don't think anyone in this building is responsible."

"Are you telling me that you believe this conspiracy theory or whatever? Do you honestly believe that we were both . . . crime-fighting superheroes . . . in my case with the "ability to move earth"," she put air quotes around that last part, "Please, Sean, think about this for a second, and tell me it's not the craziest thing you've ever heard." She was glaring indignantly at him, and he realized he was grinning, "What are you smiling about?"

Sean started to answer but instead started into an uncontrollable laughter. Jessie was looking at him like he really had gone crazy. Later Sean would say he was just tired, and a little hysterical, but at the time it was just because the whole situation was, as Jessie had put it, the craziest thing he'd ever heard.

"And you believe it as much as I do," Sean finally gasped through his hysterical laughter.

Jessie's mouth dropped into a perfect O, "I . . . you . . . how could you say . . ." the sentenced sputtered out as Sean laughed harder, now lying on his back on the couch. He knew his sister. He knew she only got defensive and hostile when she knew she was wrong, even more so when she knew Sean was right.

Unfortunately this also made her very angry when she was forced to admit Sean was right, which is why Sean found himself being struck by a large book that had been sitting on the table. Not hard but enough to count.

"That still doesn't prove anything," Jessie said simply and went back to sulking while Sean tried to stifle his giggles. The other three walked in from the hallway then.

Raven paused for a moment to raise an eyebrow at Sean's smirk and Jessie's sour expression. For the first time Sean saw how tired she looked. He figured the books all over the place had something to do with it. She looked away from them and sat cross-legged on the end of the couch.

Wonder Woman sat next to her and Batman stood next to Sean, not too close though.

"Are you both all right?" Raven was looking at them again.

"That depends," Jessie said, "What do you mean by _all right_?"

Raven smiled sleepily, "Are you hungry?"

Sean wasn't but then he remembered Jessie had skipped lunch. She didn't really like fast-food that much.

"Jess is," he piped up and her stomach did pick that moment to growl. Jessie slapped his arm murmuring something about minding his own business and followed Raven into the kitchen. Sean was left with the senior heroes. He tried to stifle another yawn but failed.

Sean felt someone tug his arm, "Come on," it was Batman.

"Where're we going?"Sean asked as he followed.

"You need sleep," Batman said simply; he was leading Sean down the hallway that went t the bedroom Sean had slept in last time.

"Thank you," Sean sighed, really, it was about time. Sean could barely keep his eyes open enough to follow the Bat. Finally, they reached the door.

Batman opened it and pointed to the bed, saying, "Those are for you." Another stack of clothes for Sean to sleep in.

"Thanks," Sean yawned again as he dropped onto the bed, "You got those from _his_ room didn't you?"He wasn't sure why he'd asked that, like the laughing fit, he just blamed it on pure tiredness. By _His_ of course he meant Robin. Sean could admit he was starting to believe some of this, but comparing himself to this complete stranger was still way too weird.

Batman, or Bruce, man, it was just weird calling him that, nodded hesitantly in response.

"Do you need any help with your leg?" He asked. Sean shook his head.

"I don't have to change the bandage as much anymore," Sean said quietly.

The Bat nodded again and said after a minute, "Good night, then," and he shut the door. Sean was a little sad to see him leave, but right after that feeling came the newer creeping one, at the bottom of his stomach. He thought back to what Jessie said, about this place feeling weird. She could be right in that point. But every time Sean felt this new creeping feeling, he wanted to say something, or do something to fix it. He had no idea why, and unlike all the other things he couldn't explain about this place and these people, this fact bothered him. A lot.

Sean sighed. He changed into Robin's clothes, or his, _oh, whatever_, and climbed into bed. He looked at the clock. 11:02. No turning back.

He was too tired to think about it, and as soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep.

* * *

Jessie was currently experiencing the effects of a skipped lunch, an awkward silence, and a strange place inhabited by strange people all combined into one. She sat in the Titan's kitchen counter, feeling very much like a lost puppy might; only a dog probably wouldn't have been aware of the awkward and strange parts of the equation. She should've just gone with Sean, but she really was hungry.

Raven finally stopped rummaging through the fridge and placed her findings on the counter; sandwich ingredients.

Raven passed Jessie a plate and said, "It seems we've fallen behind in our grocery shopping." She sounded so tired.

"You okay?" Jessie asked as she pulled the bread towards her.

"I'm fine," Raven shrugged, "Just a little overworked. Not that I'm complaining, but you and your brother's . . . case, is quite a conundrum."

Jessie was about to deny that she or Sean even had a "case" but it really wasn't worth the effort; in arguing with Raven or herself. So instead she asked, "Why?"

Raven thought for a moment, "Has your . . . father ever said anything about your family? His parents and relatives I mean."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I know."

Jessie finished putting her sandwich together and stared at Raven before answering, "Not really. Ever since our grandfather died he doesn't like to talk about them. But he always says that our family is very old and very prominent in the history of Greece. Come to think of it that's really all he said, never told us why or what made them important," she took a bite, "Guess he doesn't like that part either."

Raven listened raptly and nodded when Jessie finished, then she asked slowly, "Has he ever mentioned something called, and yes I do know how weird this sounds, it's called Mnemosyne's Stone?"

Jessie chewed for a while longer thinking, "Nope. And, yeah, that does sound really odd, but who cares anymore."

Raven leaned onto the table resting on her elbows, "Do you know who Mnemosyne is?"

Jessie shook her head. She had planned on being the one asking the questions, but of course, nothing ever went as she planned it, so why fight it?

Raven took a long time to go on. Then she explained, in a slow, quiet monotone, "Mnemosyne, in Greek mythology, is the goddess of memory. She was also the mother of the muses, one of which had a son. This son had powers over the mind much like Mnemosyne, but he was not a god, he was mostly mortal; his mother, the muse, fell in love with a handsome man. He never misused his powers, how he did use them goes unsaid.

But then he married a woman and they had children, and each child had the same gifts as their father, it never weakened, never became any stronger. But as the generations of the family went on corruption occurred. Certain members began to use their powers for their own selfish gain, controlling armies, destroying whole cities and the like. They were an unstoppable force.

Finally, in the written folklore, and mythology, it is said that Mnemosyne intervened. They say that she took a stone from the deepest cave in the earth, and gathered all her offspring in a faraway place, some of them coming only by force. It says that she cracked the stone in half and said something in an ancient language that died long ago. Different versions of the story have different opinions on what actually happened, but it's all basically the same. The family's powers were taken from them and placed in the stone.

It is said when Mnemosyne put the two halves of the stone back together it glowed blue, and she hid it from the family; none of them ever found where. They say that some members of the family were able to gain back a fraction of their powers, but they could never be fully restored without the stone," Raven paused and refocused on Jessie, "Do you see where I'm going with this?"

It took Jessie a moment to find words, but she nodded all the same, "You think my father is a part of that line." Raven nodded.

"Why don't you think that of me and Sean? Or do you and that's the whole reason for this?" Jessie had forgotten her sandwich.

"You're not really his biological children, are you?" Raven asked back.

Jessie paused, "No," she didn't like to talk about her family either, "We were both adopted when we were too young to remember."

"What about your mother?"

"She and my dad divorced a few years ago. Sean and I moved here to live with our father because mother got a job in China and didn't want to take us that far from home," Jessie leaned back in her chair, she might as well go ahead and tell everything, Raven was going to ask anyway, "Her name is Amelia Johnston, she's an interpreter for some big company whose name is too long to remember. She should be in Beijing as far as I know."

Raven nodded again, "Why did it take longer for Sean to get here?"

"He wanted to stay and help mom get packed, and finish the semester at our old school," Jessie almost asked how Raven knew Sean had gotten there after her, but realized that would be a pointless question considering who she was asking.

Raven sighed and stood up straight, "If you're finished I should probably show you to your room," Jessie opened her mouth, but Raven held up a hand, "I'll make sure it's close to Sean's." Jessie actually smiled at her a little. This might not be as bad as she thought.

* * *

They called the others when Jessie and Sean were in bed and definitely asleep. Raven was in the middle of updating them.

"We need to check for a woman named Amelia Johnston. She could be posing as their mother if she even exists. For all we know Dr. Martin either made her up to explain everything away or he could of brain washed her too. I can't see him pulling in anyone who isn't family, of course, I could be wrong," Raven swept her eyes over the rest of them.

"I got that," Cyborg said and made his way to the computer, "in the meantime Raven, I think you should get some sleep. You look awful."

"Thanks," Raven droned.

"You know what I mean," Cyborg turned back to look at Beast Boy and Starfire standing next to the three League members, "And you two should go with her."

"What are you, my mother?" Beast Boy puffed, he hated being treated like a little kid. But Starfire didn't argue, she simply took Beast Boy by the arm and dragged him out. Raven looked like she was going to put up a fight, but followed anyway, mumbling something to herself.

Superman picked up one of the large books and looked at Diana, "How about a lesson in Greek?"

Her mouth twitched, like she was holding back a laugh, "Sure, but you might regret the offer." Superman cringed, but followed her to the couch.

Cyborg turned back to his computer and by then Batman had already wandered off somewhere.

* * *

_This place is nice._

_That's what Sean was thinking as he wandered into his new dream. The sun shone brightly here. There was a large hill, clear of all trees except for one at the very top. It was a huge oak surrounded by field grass and wild flowers. It looked like something straight out of one of Sean's books._

_Butterflies and grasshoppers sprang from the ground as he walked up the hill towards the tree. He made it to the top and sat down under the oak's shady branches. He laughed as watched a little squirrel scurry out of one of the branches as a mother bird fussed at it getting too close to her nest. _

_If he went around the tree and looked towards the horizon he saw that the hill dipped down and then ended abruptly into a sort of cliff. The cliff looked over a lake, calm and crystal in the sun. _

_Sean jumped. Someone was tapping his shoulder. He turned and saw Jessie. She was grinning at him, and he grinned back._

"_Come on, Sean, look," she tugged at his arm and he got up, following her at a run down the hill. She was laughing and he couldn't help laughing with her. She slowed as they reached the cliff._

_They stopped and looked out over the lake. The cliff wasn't that far up from the water. It gently lapped at the base a little less than five feet below them._

"_Bet we could jump," Jessie said tip-toeing to the edge, "Wanna try?"_

_Sean was about to challenge her but suddenly felt a chill. Then the wind made a hissing sound through the trees. No, not the wind, a voice._

"_Did you hear that?" He asked his sister. She, too, was looking around for the source. Then Sean felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around and saw Father._

"_It's all right, my boy, have your fun," Father said softly, smiling. Sean felt the chill again._

"_I don't think we should," Sean said slowly, "Its getting cold."_

_Father chuckled, "Nonsense, it's never too cold," he wrapped his arm around Sean's shoulders and his other arm around Jessie's and walked them back to the edge._

"_You see, you're perfectly safe," He was saying. But Sean was uncomfortably aware of his father's touch. It _was _cold, and it hurt._

"_Um, I don't want to swim anymore," Jessie said and tried to back up, but Father held her tight. _

"_Come now you two, you wanted to only a moment ago," Father's voice sounded strange, like the hissing Sean heard earlier._

"_We changed our minds," Sean said and tried to twist out of Father's grip. Father grabbed his wrist and pulled Sean and Jessie close to his face._

"_You can't change your mind, Sean. You are mine after all," Fathers skin was cold around Sean's wrist, but the more he or Jessie pulled away the harder Father's grip was. Sean looked over Father's shoulder. _

_The grassy field was changing. Where there had been flowers and leaves there were small flickering blue flames. The huge old oak tree seemed to develop cracks that glowed an eerie white-blue, its leaves gone revealing bare, jagged branches. The flames were growing._

_Sean looked behind him at the lake. It still glittered in the sun, but now it foamed and lashed at the cliff mercilessly. Even the sun took up the strange blue tint._

"_Remember that my children. You are mine. After all that's what you wanted," Father's grip was agonizing now. Sean looked down at his wrist, and screamed._

_His skin was the same color as the blue flames, only glassy and cracked. The cracks originated at his father's hand and were steadily running up his arm, and when he glanced over at Jessie he saw her flesh was doing the same. She was screaming too._

_The cracks seared across their arms reaching up their necks until Sean felt them creep into his skull, then down into his chest. He was still screaming. He felt Father shake him as he whispered, "Remember Sean, mine, forever, mine, it's what you wanted . . ."_

Sean was still screaming and thrashing, Father still shaking him. But there was a new voice.

"Sean! Wake up. It's only a dream_ . . ."_

Sean stopped screaming and realized what was happening. He opened his eyes, gasping and still disoriented. The shaking stopped as Sean looked at who was holding him.

Batman. And a few of the others stood behind him staring with scared and startled looks on their faces.

"Are you all right?" Batman still had Sean by the shoulders. Sean looked down at his hands, still catching his breath. No blue cracks to be seen, just the old scares. His flesh tingled all the same.

"Where's Jessie?" he looked at the others staring at him.

"She's in her room. She had a nightmare too," Superman walked up behind Batman, "The others are tending to her."

Starfire and Cyborg stood behind the adults. Sean guessed the rest had headed to Jessie's room. Sean was cold all of a sudden and began to shiver.

Batman was still staring at him, "Sean, look at me, are you all right?" he demanded.

Sean slowly sat up fully in the bed and nodded shakily, "I've been better." He started to get to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Cyborg asked.

"I have to make sure Jessie's okay," Sean moved towards the door on legs that felt like jell-o, then realized he didn't know where Jessie's room was. He turned to the others.

"Come on," Batman put a hand on Sean's shoulder and steered him to the right. They never made it all the way to Jessie's room though, because she came around the corner with Beast Boy trailing after her. As soon as she saw her brother she flung her arms around his neck, and buried her face in his shoulder blonde hair hiding her silent tears. They both stood there quietly for a while.

"Still want to go home," Sean asked when Jessie stopped shaking. She lifted her head from his shoulder and shook her head, sniffling. Then she realized they were being watched.

She looked around at the Titans and the League members. She was searching for one face in particular. Beast Boy stood off to the back, looking worried, but hesitant to approach.

Jessie smiled a little crookedly at him, "Maybe I was a little too hasty in my "crazy" diagnosis."

Beast Boy didn't say anything, he just grinned back at her.

* * *

_Children can be so hard to deal with sometimes_. Carlisle Martin came out of his trance a bit disappointed. He was hoping his children would come back on their own, but of course they were going to be difficult.

That's why he chose them after all. Both had a determination in them that was essential. He sighed and got up from the chair. All he could do now was wait. Unfortunately, in order to really have any control over them he had to be able to touch them. From this distance he could break into their subconscious, but that couldn't make a difference unless they would listen to him.

He had to find another way. After all he'd done in order to get the first parts of his collection, he would not let them slip away. He went up the stairs, thinking.

The dark girl had found out much. He could see it through Jessica's mind. He took a moment to contemplate how much stronger his connection was to Jessica than to Sean. It was to be expected of course; Sean had fought it in the beginning, Jessica came more willingly. And that half-demon had already clogged Sean's mind with her own connection, making it harder to get in.

None of this mattered now. Carlisle would have to depend on Jessica for now, until he brought both of them home. Soon Carlisle Martin would build the unstoppable force that his ancestor's had so long ago, but his would be better.

He would be more careful about his choices, choose them young. His ancestors had been too rushed in making their armies. Carlisle could wait. He already had his eye on more targets, but first he had to control this situation.

He climbed into bed with a heavy mind. Yes, Sean and Jessica would have to come home, and he would set all of this right. He didn't want to completely control them like the drones of his ancestors; he wanted them to have some free will. But he might have to. Then there would be no escaping their destiny.

He could wait.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry if this chapter didn't really get anywhere, but I had to get a little bit of history out of the way first. I hope I didn't bore anyone to death.

Also tell me if I should never do anything from the villain's point of view again, I know I probably suck at it.

Thank you and please review!


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Mmmkay . . . I am never using metaphors with you guys again. _Some _people, and I won't name names _(Cough, Willowleaf, cough, ahem)_, are just too intense to handle them. Anywho, I still don't own anything, and I'm still in my bunker now hiding from a giant honey pot too. (Wow, is it just me or does anyone else get the mental image of an evil Winnie the Pooh standing outside with a giant black pot of honey in his hands?)

* * *

Chapter 12

Amelia Johnson. Long blonde, wavy hair, pale skin, and gray eyes. She was a beautiful lady if you could ignore the fact that it looked like all the color had been drained from her. In the picture she looked cocky and arrogant. It annoyed the heck out of Beast Boy. The woman didn't look brain-washed either, but then, it was only a picture.

The morning after the whole tower had been woken up with blood curdling screams from Sean and Jessie's rooms, Cyborg had calmed down enough to find the woman's passport and other personal information in her company's computer bank. Actually it was more like hacking, and they were all surprised Cyborg hadn't gotten a call from the FBI or something. But he hadn't and it worked. Sean and Jess were still in their rooms.

"She was definitely married to the weirdo, about sixteen years ago. Here's the marriage certificate. Her boss must keep everything," Cyborg's robotic fingers swept over the keys of the super-computer and a document spread over the screen.

"Great," Beast Boy grumbled, "Does it say anything in the wedding vows about brain-washing your spouse and/or your kids?"

"Maybe he didn't have to brain-wash her," Wonder Woman said, "Maybe she didn't know what he is. She found out and ran."

"There are a lot of maybes in that," Batman said, "And that doesn't really matter now. What I want to know is what she's got to do with any of this."

"Somehow he had to get her to agree to be a part of this," Raven said, "Maybe he has something on her?"

Starfire floated up to get a better look at Amelia's pale features, "Perhaps he got her this job as an, um, I believe you called it an internal-putter? It means she translates languages?"

"_Interpreter_ Starfire," Beast boy said with a tiny smile, "What made you come up with that?"

"Even on my old planet it was an important position," she floated back down to sit with Beast Boy on the couch, "Our language interpreters on Tameran were usually requested by a trusted advisor. I just thought Earth might not be so different."

"It isn't, which means you could be right," Cyborg starred at the screen again, "The only way we'll know for sure is if we ask her ourselves."

"Any ideas on how to do that?" Superman asked.

That got them. They were quiet for a while until Batman spoke, "Well . . . Ms. Johnson could always get an emergency call, telling her to come home immediately."

Raven smiled a little, "That is true."

"Please," Starfire said, "What emergency do you speak of?"

"Whatever emergency we make up, family trouble maybe, kids get hurt all the time," Raven walked up to the computer, "This thing wouldn't happen to tell how to get in touch with mommy dearest, would it?" She looked at Cyborg.

"Maybe," He grinned and punched in a few more commands, "Yep. Here in her file, phone number of her secretary and everything. Who wants to make the call?"

"Wait," Beast Boy said suddenly, "What if she asks to speak to Dr. Crazy? What are you gonna tell her, Sorry he has laryngitis'?"

"Don't worry about it, man," Cyborg said casually, "I got it. Do me a favor; go see if Jessie and Sean are awake."

* * *

Computers are great, you know? Especially when the computer you're using happens to be a beautiful super-computer with access to almost any data-base, secret files . . .

and not to mention a built in voice recognizer that can recreate any sound you want.

"It's a little deeper . . . yeah like that," Jessie nodded her head as Cyborg changed octaves.

They were recreating Dr. Carlisle Martin's voice, just in case his ex-wife still needed to hear it every now and then. Sean and Jessie were helping to perfect it. It would be a long distance call, anyway, so even if it did sound a little electronic they could blame it on the phone lines.

Cyborg played the sentence over again.

"It's a little too fast," Sean said, watching the thin line on the screen turn into a jagged sound wave.

"How's this?" Cyborg slowed it down.

"Better, but it's hard to tell," Sean rested his chin in his hands and Starfire dropped lightly onto the couch next to him.

Jessie was really jumpy this morning, and this little stunt they were about to pull wasn't helping her nerves, "I think its close enough. Are you sure this will work?" She asked for the millionth time.

"Yeah," Cyborg said patiently, because he really wasn't and he understood her anxiety, "You said that parents have some joint custody over the both of you, right?"

"Well . . . yes," She said.

"Well, then, it's pretty understandable that they'd both have to be here if one of you were fatally ill," Cyborg explained again. Jessie sighed.

"And if this _doesn't _work?" She asked. Cyborg was really hoping to get the old Terra back soon. She never asked this many questions. But Cyborg didn't have to answer this time.

"Then there's always the option of kidnapping her," Beast Boy landed with a bounce on the couch beside Jessie.

"You people really aren't much on subtlety, are you?" Jessie smiled a little bit, hesitant, but there. That's all BB needed, his signature goofy grin spread over his face.

"Cyborg?" Sean asked after a minute, "What exactly are you going to tell her when she gets here?"

Cyborg was also looking forward to seeing Robin again. Then he could make all the brilliant plans.

"Um . . . Well, see, Sean, we're kinda makin this up as we go," Cyborg saved his little Dr. Carlisle voice creation and turned to look at him.

"That's comforting," Sean mumbled.

"We're having her go to an abandoned warehouse two miles from here. She'll already know something's up. I don't think there's much we can say to her that she won't already expect," Cyborg thought for a minute, "Actually it'll be a miracle if she even gets in the car willingly. May have to ask Bats for some knock-out gas, he's got to have some in that belt of his."

Sean and Jessie looked a little leery of that thought.

"But we may not have to do anything that drastic," Cyborg said quickly, then decided to change the subject, "What all do you two remember about her anyway?"

The two looked at each other, apparently they'd thought about that too.

Jessie spoke, "When we really thought about it, not much."

"What do you mean?" Starfire leaned a little forward.

"It's fuzzy," Sean said, "We never had to remember much about her before, never thought we had to, no one asked. But now we just get blurry images of things we did with her, but no in between. Her face is clear in our minds, but the memory itself seems . . . kinda . . ."

"Like _we_ didn't put it there," Jessie finished wryly.

Raven was the only other person in the room, the League was somewhere doing JL stuff, the Titans didn't ask anymore, and she'd been quiet until now, "You may never have even met Amelia Johnson."

All heads turned her way, "Think about it," she said, "What if Martin was only using her as a prop? It's possible she only agreed to that much. The only thing Amelia Johnson may be guilty of here is doing nothing to stop this."

"It is still no excuse," Starfire's eyes flashed green for a moment, "She is still guilty, horrid woman." Star continued to seethe in her native tongue, slouched on the couch, arms folded.

"I didn't say she wasn't guilty," Raven said, "But being angry may not get us on her good side."

Beast Boy glanced back up at the arrogant picture of Amelia Johnson, "She doesn't look like she _has_ a good side."

* * *

Beast Boy may have been right about Amelia Johnson not having a good side. Clark could tell through the phone. The reason he was the one making the call was because they all agreed it had to be an adult; she might think it's a prank if it came from a teenager. Batman didn't have the patients for it, considering this woman may be in league with the man who stole his kid and Diana's excuse was; quote, "No," unquote, so the duty fell to the man of steel himself. Well, at least he had people skills; working with a newspaper and all that.

Ms. Johnson on the other hand was not a people person, "What do you mean we _both_ have to be there? Why can't Carlisle just make the decision by himself? Surely the imbecile is capable of that much," when she had first picked up the phone her voice was smooth and polite, but as soon as Clark said Carlisle Martin's name it became scratchy and rose to the point of screeching.

"Well, ma'am," Clark said, racking his brains for a viable explanation, "It's a very complicated situation; we don't want to do anything unless both parents are present."

It seemed the word parent gave her pause. What mother, especially a fake mother, would ignore her children? "Can't you just tell me over the phone and I'll give you an answer?" She sounded on the verge of hysterics.

"No, I'm afraid we can't do that," Clark decided it was time to play the Carlisle card, "Dr. Martin insists that you come. Would you like to speak to him?"

"No," she said it too quickly, looks like Cyborg wouldn't get to use his new toy, "I mean that won't be necessary. But are you sure?" she continued.

"Yes I'm sure. Dr. Martin refuses to make any drastic decisions until you get here."

There was a long pause, and Clark thought she was going to hang up and flee to another country, one without phone service, but then he heard a resigned sigh, "Fine . . . hang on a second. Let me check the flight schedules." There was some rustling as she moved the phone, a minute later she picked again. "I'll be there in about two days, it's the only flight available that soon. This just had to happen when it's almost Christmas, didn't it? What's the address again?"

Clark gave her the phony address and asked her to call when she was off the plane, and she hung up with a hard _wack_.

Clark looked at the others, "She'll be here in two days."

Bruce nodded, "Why that late?"

"It's December Bats. Christmas, you know?" Diana leaned forward a little to make sure the raised eyebrow was seen.

"Guess it just snuck up," he mumbled and then, in an obvious attempt to change the subject, he gave Clark a weird look, "What did you say Jessie had again?"

"Phototomic engoparamount disease."

"And that is . . .?"

"I have no idea."

* * *

**Two days later . . .**

Amelia Johnson got off the plane in Jump City and made the call to the Hospital, just like she promised. She made sure the address was right one last time and call a taxi. The taxi driver gave her a weird look when she told him the address but shrugged it off. She almost asked why, then decided it was probably just lower class stupidity.

It took a while to get through the crowded streets and onto the main road so she took the time to do what she did best . . .

Completely loath everyone else. The topic of her current loathing was her ex-husband, Carlisle Martin. Honestly Amelia couldn't remember what she'd seen in him, the pompous, deceitful scum he was. Not to mention more controlling than a dictator.

Now he'd dragged her into his newest ridiculous endeavor . . . children. She'd only agreed to have joint custody because he wouldn't leave her alone about it. Plus she owed him. Not only had he taken her out of her parent's house in that rat infested hole in the wall, but he'd married her, and for a long time made her very happy. When Amelia asked why he did all this for her he would say she was special and he didn't want to lose her. That he had great plans. What a fool she'd been to trust him only on that.

Amelia had a knack for learning languages, you name it. German, Spanish, French, a little Italian, Greek and of course several different dialects of Chinese. She'd begged him to help her get a job as an interpreter, no one would hire a high school dropout, but he hadn't wanted her working, said he wanted to provide her with everything.

But she had argued that if he really wanted to make her happy he would help her with this, and if he wanted to provide her with _everything_ . . . well, then wasn't a good career _something_? As anyone could see Carlisle had once again provided her with something that she would inevitably have to pay back.

Because Carlisle Martin could take anything back if it served his purpose. And after everything she'd put up with. That horrible breakdown was the worst, at the time she was so afraid he might never come out of that mental facility, now she wished they'd have locked him up and thrown away the key.

Then of course the reason for their divorce. She didn't think about that for too long.

Their divorce hadn't settled until earlier that year, and that's how she'd gotten stuck with children to her name. Carlisle wouldn't let her take anything in the settlement unless she signed the papers, he wanted his home to look as stable as possible for kids, and he'd promised she didn't have to have anything to do with them unless it was completely necessary. Except for the fact he'd sent her all those letters about the kids, teenagers, their pictures, and the strangest one had come not too long ago . . .

_. . . because you know what I can do my dear . . ._

Amelia was so lost in her thoughts she didn't realize the cab had stopped; the driver was trying to get her attention.

"Miss," he was saying, "This is your stop. You need help with your bag?"

She finally snapped out of it, "Um, no, thank you. How much do I owe you?" he told her as she picked up her only bag and she paid him. She got out of the car and it drove off before she registered where she was. This couldn't be right. She turned back to the cab to tell the moron he'd gotten the wrong place but he was gone, "Uggghhh," she pulled out her cell. She would have to call another cab.

"That won't be necessary," said a familiar voice behind her, "you've got the right place."

Amelia turned and saw a large man with dark hair and a colorful uniform watching her. Behind him was a small . . . green boy and a . . . robot? This could not be good.

"That's not possible," She said as calmly as she could, "I'm supposed to be at a hospital," she jabbed her thumb at the large abandoned building to her right, "This is not a hospital. Besides, how would you know if I'm in the right place?" now she was just being condescending. What kind of a degenerate was this?

"Because I'm the one who gave you the address," his tone was just as condescending as hers. Amelia thought fast. What if this was Carlisle's doing? All the worst scenarios played through her mind, but the stranger spoke again, "Carlisle doesn't know about this. If we're lucky he doesn't even know you're in the country."

"What is going on here?" she snapped. Amelia did not like being played with, especially not by some half-wit pranksters.

"We need your help with something, if you would kindly come with us . . ." he stepped towards a blue-white car.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," She planted her feet firmly on the cracked sidewalk, "Not unless you can give me a _monumentally_ good reason. Do you think I was born yesterday?"

He paused and the little green boy and the robot-person-thing walked past him and got into the car. "You need a good reason? How's this? Your ex-husband is being accused of kidnapping, among other serious crimes, and you are viewed as his accomplice, better?"

She would kill him. That horrid, good for nothing, creep of a man, a complete waste of air, that's what he was. She sighed, no, she couldn't do that. Carlisle had dragged her into another mess, and the only way she could get out of it and keep everything she'd worked for, she would have to play by his rules.

_. . . because you know what I can do my dear . . ._

This meant she would have to lie for him, again. She suddenly realized the point of that creepy letter. Carlisle would pay for this one, she didn't know how, but she would find a way. She could not believe she'd fallen for this stupid trick. Never mind, she would just have to be more careful with these people.

The man was waiting for her answer.

"Fine, but when this is over, you'll being hearing from my lawyer," The man nodded and led her to the car. This was the start a _wonderful _day. Maybe she would get lucky and be hit by a bus.

* * *

**Titan's Tower **

Amelia Johnson walked into the Tower after Clark, Beast Boy, and Cyborg with her nose slightly crinkled up, like she'd smelled something bad. Her gray eyes swept over the building with an air of complete disgust, those gathered inside the Tower were watching from the monitors.

It was a very good thing Clark would be standing just outside the door. Otherwise Bruce might strangle her. Batman would be doing the interrogation. Superman offered to do it instead, but really the man could be too trusting at times. They didn't want it to be one of the Titans because she might not take a teenager seriously. Telling the Titans this was a fight in itself, they didn't take too lightly to being considered just kids. Diana's excuse was once again a simple NO. She didn't like annoying little people, and you could tell just from her picture, the ex-Mrs. Carlisle Martin was as arrogant as they come.

It was all the better for the Bat, he _wanted_ to do this interrogation. He set off to the Titan's cement interrogating room.

Clark led her straight there, no one got in their way, even Cyborg and Beast Boy turned off the initial path, instead of going straight to the room. Everyone else would watch from behind the one-way glass, except Sean and Jessie. They said they were still tired.

Ms. Johnson was sitting in the hard chair across from the glass; Batman decided it was time to enter.

"Are you sure you don't want me to do this?" Clark asked before Batman went in, he was afraid Bruce might do something stupid. When had that ever happened? Bruce could answer his own question in that, but that wasn't relevant right now.

"Yes, I'm sure," Batman said and twisted the door handle, "Besides, you'll be standing right here." Clark still didn't look too confident, but they didn't have time for all this. He slipped into the room, silent as a ghost.

Amelia didn't notice the new presence; she was staring at the table lost in her own world. Her bag sat in her lap, and she kept a pale hand clasped over the opening, protective.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Johnson," Batman said in a very normal tone, Amelia jumped a foot in the air anyway, "Or should I call you Mrs. Martin, instead?"

It took her a moment as she took in the black silhouette, the horns, the masked scowl. When she recovered her composure enough to register his question she snarled at him, "Ms. Johnson if you don't mind. And even if you do, it's still Ms. Johnson." It was a _very _good thing Clark was on the other side of that door.

_Ms. Johnson_ wasn't finished, "Before you start in on whatever half-baked accusation you've concocted, let me be clear. I have had practically no contact with Carlisle Martin in nearly a year, whatever trouble he's gotten into has nothing to do with me, you're wasting your time, and mine," she leaned back in her chair and fixed Batman with a glare to rival his own.

"We'll see about that," Batman said quietly and strode slowly across the room, "Do you know what he, and you of course, are being accused of?"

"Your friend said something about kidnapping?" She wasn't looking at him anymore, just fiddling with the string on her bag.

"Yes, and child abuse, and a few others," Batman said calmly, "You have joint custody with him over these children." He slid the two pictures onto the table, right under her nose.

"Yes, Jessica and Sean, for about fifteen years now," she was lying. It was almost impossible to tell, but Batman was able to detect the subtle signs. She was very good at lying for Dr. Martin.

"And you were married to Dr. Martin for sixteen years?"

"Can we not bring up past mistakes?" She turned the pictures so she could see them better, still not looking at Batman.

"Can you tell me how you and Dr. Martin got these children?" Batman was waiting for the trained seal answer. That's exactly what he got. Amelia rattled off the name of an orphanage that closed about ten years ago, no way to trace any of the files, how convenient.

Batman continued with questions along this line: the children's names before they were adopted, their birthdays, what preschool they went to, and on and on.

Finally Ms. Johnson looked up at him, "Sir, what relevance does this have to the accusations? Why won't you just get to the point?" She was glaring at him again, and Batman realized he was smirking.

He couldn't help it; this was rather funny in a morbid sort of way. He took a long minute to answer, and then he said slowly, "You're lying."

Batman didn't think it was possible, but her face paled a bit more, "That's ridiculous," she said in a low snarl, "Why would I lie about my own children?"

"Because they're not your children," Batman had wanted to say that for a very long time.

"Well, of course, biologically I can't claim them but an honorable court of law . . ."

"Didn't give them to you either," Batman was almost laughing at her now, and Ms. Johnson could tell. Her hand tightened on her bag.

She straightened in her chair, "And what proof do you have of that?"

Batman paused, "What's Jessica's favorite hobby?"

"What?" She nearly fell out of her chair with the absurdity of the question, "That has absolutely nothing to do with . . ."

"Do you know Sean's best class in school?" Batman interrupted. She glared at him a moment longer before he spoke again, taking a few steps closer, "A mother who has spend fifteen years raising these two children would know the answers to those questions," he said quietly, tapping the pictures on the table.

Amelia took a deep breath before she answered, "I've been away for a while . . ."

"And not a single letter? A phone call? E-mail's pretty quick," if looks could kill Batman would be dead five times over by now, but he continued, "Let me guess at something for a second, if you don't mind."

"Why not? You've guessed at everything else," Amelia folded her arms and stared at him, waiting.

Batman slowly walked around her chair, "Let's start with your divorce, shall we? Sixteen years is a long time to be married and then just end it all in one fatal swoop."

"Or maybe we finally got sick of each other."

"No, that's much too simple. See, I think, that when the good doctor got out of that mental facility, yes, I know about that, when he got out he was different, in a way you didn't understand. I think he told you things that were a bit . . . unbelievable. Am I getting close?"

She shrugged and said, "You're the one telling the story."

Batman nodded, he could see he'd hit a nerve, she wouldn't look at him at all, "Moving on. Carlisle began acting strange, he told you some story . . . does the term mind-control mean anything to you?"

That was a major nerve. Now she was staring openly at him, she still didn't say a word.

"It's a yes or no question, Ms. Johnson," Batman said quietly. She didn't move, she didn't speak, she only starred, "I'll take that as a yes," he said, then a thought occurred to him, something Batman hadn't thought of before now, "He demonstrated it to you, didn't he?" he asked in a curious tone.

Ms. Johnson looked away from him, and finally said, "I don't know what he did. It scared me." Her voice was no longer powerful and confident, she sounded like a child.

"So you left him," Batman said softly, she nodded, "And you didn't get these children fifteen years ago did you?" Batman went on. She was silent and still ounce more. She'd said too much.

"You're still scared of him," Batman said calmly. Amelia's head snapped up. Something flashed in her eyes.

"I want to go now," she got up to leave and was almost out the door when Batman spoke again.

"He got you that job, didn't he, there's no way you got it yourself."

She spun around, now he'd hurt her pride, "Why would you say that? I'm perfectly capable of handling my own affairs."

"You didn't even finish high school," Batman said coolly, then pulled out her empty chair, "Please, sit."

She didn't move, "Fine," she said slowly, "he got me a job. It doesn't matter now."

"Oh, but it does. He has the power to take it away, doesn't he? Unless you do what he asks, like lying about adopting children," Batman could see her crumbling. Amelia Johnson was just another pawn in this sick game. She still didn't budge, though, only her eyes gave her away.

Batman took a moment to continue, "You think you owe him."

Amelia finally spoke, "I don't owe that cretin anything. And I'm not afraid of _anyone_."

"If that were true you wouldn't be lying for him," Batman said quietly, "He's still got you pinned under his thumb."

She was shaking now, some color coming to her face, "How dare you . . . I have never . . . _I am no one's play thing_." She finally growled.

"Prove it . . . Ms. Johnson."

She trembled for a moment, eyes wide, her grip on that bag starting to look painful, her gaze shifting between Batman and some place he couldn't see. Then, suddenly, she smiled. A toothy smile that looked half crazed, half absolute victory. She looked away from Batman and down at the bag in her death grip, she opened it and began to rifle through it at a haphazard pace, and yanked out a handful of papers. They looked like opened letters, crumpled and torn, but still readable.

Still smiling she marched over to Batman and slapped the letters down on top of the pictures of Jessie and Sean. She walked around the table, sat back down, and watched as Batman picked up the letters and looked at her.

Silently she waved her hand, _go ahead, see what kind of toy I am._

Batman took the first letter out of its crumpled envelope and skimmed it, flipped it over, and got up.

He looked back at Amelia, "Excuse me a minute." He walked into the adjacent room, right past Clark, straight to Diana. She raised an eyebrow as he handed her the thick stack of letters, "Can you translate these?" Bruce asked her.

She glanced down at the first one, and smiled, "It's all in ancient Greek," Raven walked up behind her and Diana turned to her, "It seems we have more work to do." They left immediately and Bruce walked back into the interrogation room.

Amelia was still smiling, "I did promise dear Carlisle that I wouldn't say a word," she shrugged and asked, "May I go now?" Batman thought about that for a minute. He almost laughed again; he respected that little stunt enough to let her be on her way.

"Make sure we can reach you," Batman said gruffly, and opened the door for her. No sense in getting their only real source of information in trouble either. She nodded and walked out.

* * *

"From what we've been able to translate so far, he really told her everything, it's like they were still married," Raven said.

"Talk about not being able to let go," Beast Boy said. It had been a few hours since Amelia Johnson left, and they were all in the kitchen, except for Sean and Jessie, they all assumed they were still sleeping.

"What else did you find Rae?" Cyborg asked.

"It's _Raven_, and hang on a second," she took a letter from Diana and settled into her seat, "This is the one pertaining to Sean and Jessie, or Robin and Terra, never mind I keep getting confused. He wrote to her and said he wanted her to do one more thing before he would let her have the divorce, sign the adoption papers. The rest are miscellaneous things, you can see when he got Terra--he tells Amelia all about her. Then of course when Robin fell in the river matches the date on this letter," Raven held out another one and paused to exchange papers.

"This one is where it gets creepy," Diana held a particularly thick envelope, it was the biggest one in the pile, "The first page is just like all his other letters, telling her about the kids, asking how she is . . . but the last line says that he's included a list of "instructions" for her to follow. Here's the translated version." She gave the hand written translation to Batman first, "Every question you asked her, the orphanage, their names, it's all there." She paused as Batman read it.

At the bottom was a single line,

_I hope you follow this if anyone asks, because you know what I can do my dear. _

Vacantly Batman heard Cyborg speak to Beast Boy, "Hey B, go see if Sean and Jess are okay. They gotta be hungry by now." He heard the little changeling leave. Bruce passed the item back to Diana.

"So he definitely fed her all the answers, it even makes her promise to meet him. How much you want to bet it's to make her swear to say she got the kids fifteen years ago and work out all the paperwork?"

"And to make her promise not to _say_ anything," Cyborg said wryly. Diana and Raven nodded.

"There are still more letters to go through, but we wanted to make sure you got that," Raven picked up the rest of the papers and stood to leave and translate the rest with Diana, when Starfire spoke.

"Wait friend, please," Starfire waited until Raven turned around, "there is one thing I do not understand. If this . . . doctor wants our friends back so badly, why did he give them the horses of night?"

Raven starred at her for a minute until Cyborg chuckled, "Nightmares."

"Oh," Raven looked back at Starfire and said, "Well Star, the best I can think of is that he didn't." She paused to let that soak in.

"What you talkin bout, Raven," Cyborg said.

"What I mean is, the mind is a complicated thing, what you perceive can become your reality," she paused again, "Sean and Jessica are starting to see that Dr. Martin can hurt them. I think when he entered their minds he was hoping to calm them down and make them want to come home. But as soon as they realized he was there the beautiful dream he was weaving turned into a nightmare. Carlisle Martin didn't push them away, they pulled." She cocked her head to one side, "That explain your question?"

Starfire thought for a second and then nodded, "I believe so. Thank you friend."

"No problem, now if you'll excuse me . . . "Raven was cut off by a little green changeling hurtling through the door.

"Wough, there B, what happened?" Cyborg grabbed the little guy before he slammed into Superman.

"It's Jessie and Sean," he said frantically, "They're gone."

* * *

**A/N:** I have wanted to say this ever since I started writing this story, ahem . . .

BWWWHHAAHHAA! A cliffy!!

Sorry, I'm done. But seriously I hope I surprised somebody, if I didn't, well, I tried. I also discovered that I hate doing interrogations; it's just not a fun thing.

Please review, and tell me if you have a question, I'm new at this.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **Good grief, have a cow why don't ya? October was a busy month for me and it doesn't look like November's gonna be any better, I'm sorry really, but I promise I'm not going to be one of those that abandons a story. SO QUIT YELLING AT ME!!! M'KAY?!!

Oh, and moyercat11, Amelia Johnson is Amelia Johnson, sorry for the confusion, she's real as far as this story goes.

Luckily, I get to write this chapter in the fresh air, all I have to look out for is a Cyborg army. I still don't own anything and why is it that I'm also the only person who doesn't have an army of some kind?!!

* * *

**Chapter 13 **

"What do you mean _gone_ Beast Boy?" Cyborg still had the little changeling in his grip.

Beast Boy moved back so Cyborg couldn't reach him, "I mean not here. Not in their rooms, nowhere in the Tower, just _gone_." Cyborg could see it was taking quite the effort for Beast Boy to stay calm.

"Are you sure?" Batman said, "You looked everywhere?"

"Yes!" Beast Boy was moving towards the door, probably ready to sprint off looking for them.

Starfire looked at Cyborg, "Where could they have gone? They would not just leave." Cyborg was about to answer when Raven spoke.

"How much you want to bet it was a certain Doctor who likes to mess with peoples subconscious?" She was looking at Wonder Woman. The Amazonian nodded, "We need to find them, _now_."

"Wait," Cyborg said, "How could Carlisle have done this? We were all right _here_."He pointed to the floor to emphasize his point.

Raven had already started for the door, she answered him in an irritated rush, "Yes, and Carlisle was up _here_," Raven pointed to her head, and then continued, "They were asleep remember? He's in their dreams again, and this time he'll be more careful. He's finally getting the hold he wanted on Robin and Terra. It may not be reversible after this. Oh, crud," She stopped before she reached the door and turned to Diana, "The rest of the letters."

"The others are perfectly capable of tracking them down," WW turned to look at Batman, "You need to find them as soon as possible, Raven and I need to finish with this," she indicated the stack of papers in Raven's grasp, "Trust me, it may be the only way to find out what Carlisle Martin is going to do."

Batman nodded. Cyborg finally managed to speak, "Okay, the first place we should check is the house, then his labs, there are dozens of them."

"I'll take the house," Beast Boy said and raced out the door.

"Star, go with him," Cyborg said. She nodded and flew after her friend. Batman, Cyborg and Superman were taking the labs, while Diana and Raven deciphered the letters to Amelia. They would stay close to the computer in order to stay in touch with the rest of them.

Before they left, though, Batman pulled Diana aside, "What did she mean by irreversible?"

Diana studied him before she answered and chose her words carefully, "She means Martin isn't going to give slack anymore," when he still didn't look like he understood she elaborated, "Sean and Jessica were only able to remember what they remembered because Carlisle hadn't taken over completely, he gave them more free-will than his ancestors gave their armies. The armies were basically drones, the kids are not. Carlisle won't make that mistake again," Diana paused as Bruce's realization sunk in, and decided there was no point in sugar-coating it, "Hurry and find them Bruce; you may not get another chance."

* * *

**Martin Residence**

The house was empty, not a stick of furniture in it. The alarm systems were gone. An outsider might think no one had lived in it for years, never guessing that the house had been inhabited only yesterday. Carlisle Martin knew how to cover his tracks. The only thing left was what couldn't be of any help. It smelled like everything from the floors to the ceiling had been scrubbed with heavy duty cleaner, so that it might be mistaken for a hospital. It was absolutely disturbing.

Beast Boy flipped open his communicator with a defeated sigh and waited for Cyborg to pick up, "Hey B you find anything?"

"Man, this guy could give Batman a run for his money in the 'quiet and sneaky' department," Beast Boy sighed again as Starfire settled on the floor next to him, "What about you?"

"Nothing so far, matter of fact, that's all we've found, nothing. Literally, Martin cleaned house. We haven't even gotten to all the laboratories, why don't you two come and help us?" Cyborg was looking very worn.

BB glanced at Star and she nodded and said, "We will be there," her voice softened to that disarming calm that could melt an iceberg, "We will find them, Cyborg, do not worry."

Beast Boy almost believed her. Almost.

* * *

Sean groggily cracked his eyes open. He wanted to sleep some more. He really wanted to get back to the dream he was having. It wasn't as dramatic as the one the night before but it was nice. In this one he was walking through the city with Jessie. They weren't walking to anything he knew of, nor were they walking away from anything, just walking and talking about nothing. It was nice, and for once Father wasn't there.

But he had to wake up. There was some strange buzzing sound that was driving him crazy, and he knew it was coming from outside of his dream. Maybe it was the Titans working on something, or maybe they were cooking, Sean was starving. Sean opened his eyes wide.

This wasn't the Tower. He was on a bed in a small room with no windows and one door. As Sean looked around he saw that Jessie was nowhere in the room and that infuriating buzzing noise was still going. Sean had been wrong, Father was here.

He got out of the bed. There was no way he was just staying in one place for Father to do who knew what to him. He tried to walk to the door but was jolted to a stop by his left arm. Sean turned and starred in horror at his wrist. The heavy chain from the basement was set firmly around his already scarred arm and attached to the bed post. He couldn't leave and he didn't have an alarm this time.

Suddenly the buzzing stopped. The small room was eerily quiet without it. Sean heard footsteps soon after, they approached at an easy even pace, but quickly. Sean froze as the door knob turned.

_Bruce where are you?_

* * *

**Martin Laboratory #18**

"This guy is good, I'll give him that much," Superman leaned on one of the sterilized lab walls and watched as Batman paced the length of the main hall.

"He had to have left something," Batman was almost talking to himself but Starefire answered anyway.

Even her patience was coming to an end, "But he did not. We have found nothing," She dropped from the air and walked over to her team, "Please, Cyborg, where is the next Lab to search we are running out of time."

Cyborg sighed and didn't look at her, "No where," he glanced at her confused face and said, "There are no more Labs to search, Star. No more houses, nothing. We been everywhere Carlisle Martin ever spent time and all we've found is this." He swung his arm out over the abandoned Research Lab. It was just as empty as the house, with the same bleach smell and sense of horrible foreboding.

"What!" Starfire finally shrieked, "That cannot be! There must be another place, Cyborg we cannot stop here," She wheeled around to face Batman, he _was_ supposed to be the world's greatest detective and all, "You must _think_." She was almost in tears.

Batman stopped his pacing; "I'm tryi . . ." he froze, and then said very slowly, "_Every where_ he spent time?"

Cyborg looked up at him, "Yeah, we've been to his home and all of his labs, where else do we know to look?"

"The mental institution he stayed in has been empty for a year," Batman was already headed for the door, "It went out of business because it couldn't compete with Dr. Martin's Research Labs."

* * *

**Titan's Tower**

"Where are they now?" Raven sifted through the letters as she spoke to Diana.

"They must have thought of something, they're heading back across town," The Amazonian watched as the blinking dots that indicated the rest of the team glided across the screen, then bent to help Raven. They had gotten through most of the workload and found nothing. They were slowly going stir crazy.

The half-demon was translating a particularly long letter, probably five pages long and had suddenly stopped. Her eyes ran over it faster than Diana could've written it and silently Raven sat up straighter, her violet eyes widening.

"What is it?" Wonder Woman asked quietly. It took a long time for Raven to answer.

"He found it," she murmured. Diana almost didn't hear her.

"What do you mean?"

Raven looked up from the letter as if realizing Diana was there, "He found the stone," she held out the letter for Diana to see, "Mnemosyne's stone."

* * *

"Batman pick up _now_," Diana's voice rang sharp through the comm. link in the Bat mobile. Bruce hit the button on the steering wheel so he could answer.

"Kind of busy here," He said. Cyborg was beside him in the car, Beast Boy, Superman, and Starfire were flying overhead.

"I know but this is important, we may have less time than we thought and a much bigger problem."

"What could be a bigger problem than having our teammates turned into a psycho's drones?" Cyborg asked.

"How about having the whole city turned into drones?" Diana asked back; Cyborg was silent.

"What are you talking about Diana, what did you find?" Batman screeched around a corner, barely missing a light pole.

"Carlisle found Mnemosyne's Stone," Raven was on the link now, "Now he has the ability to take control of the whole city, maybe more."

"I thought you said that finding the Stone was impossible," Superman buzzed in on his connection.

"Well, apparently I was wrong, does that matter right now?" Raven snapped, she calmed a little as she said, "That's not all. He wrote to Amelia about doing this . . . _army_ up better than his ancestors. He only wants young minds that he can shape himself, instead of the brute strength of numbers the ancients relied on so much. He's making some super-smart genius horde."

"He's going to make an army of geeks?" Beast Boy that time.

"Try dooms-day weapon building geeks, grass stain," Raven was being snappy again, "A little more dangerous than you might think."

"Wait," Batman interrupted, "Only _young_ minds?"

The other end was quiet for a long time before Diana answered, "He doesn't want everybody, only the ones he deems worthy."

"Which means . . ." Cyborg dreaded the answer.

Raven answered, "It means he's going to kill off every one over twenty years old, and anyone else who doesn't fit the bill." Cyborg swallowed as Batman floored it.

* * *

"Y-y-you s-stay away f-f-from me," Sean's attempt at a confident threat hardly tapped into defiance. Father smiled from the other side of the room, tall and intimidating. Sean had backed himself into the side of the bed he was still chained to. Father closed the door behind him.

"Now, Sean, my dear boy, that's no way to speak to your father," Father began to stride across the room, "I taught you better than that."

"Y-you are not my father," Sean tried to back up farther, but only managed to fall back onto the bed. The room was so small that Father was standing over him within three casual steps. Sean pushed himself all the way to the wall the bed was pushed against. He was trapped, and the wolf's green eyes were kind and gentle. "L-leave m-me alone," Sean said weakly.

Father sighed, a father truly disappointed in his charge, and he reached out a hand to touch Sean's cheek. Sean closed his eyes and turned his head away, but Father cupped his face in his hand anyway, gently pushing Sean's head around to face him, "But I have so many great plans for you," his hand went cool on Sean's cheek, "You and your sister are my prizes, please Sean don't make me do this. Come back to me," Father placed his other hand on Sean's face, "Open your eyes my boy."

Sean couldn't help himself; he opened his eyes. He was looking into Father's green eyes, and at once noticed how kind they were. Sean suddenly felt numb. This man shouldn't seem warm and gentle to him. Definitely not kind. But kind they seemed.

But of course they were kind; this was his _father_ after all. The coldness in Father's hands seemed to vanish as Sean relaxed into those green eyes.

"That's it my son, it's alright now," Father stroked his cheek soothingly, "No more of those horrid people telling you lies . . ." Sean smiled a little and nodded. Then he noticed something else; a tugging at the back of his mind. Green eyes. Where had he seen such soft, lovely green eyes before? Not Father's, but somewhere else.

Starfire's image flashed through his mind. The beautiful alien smiling at him as he tried her orange, explosion cake. The image faltered as he felt his Father's grip tighten, Sean's stomach rolled as he felt the freezing sensation from Father's fingers.

"What did you do to me?" Sean asked suddenly, no stutter this time, and fully confident and demanding, though quiet. His voice seemed to come from someone else.

Father pulled his hands away from Sean's face like he'd been burned, "I did exactly what you let me do," his eyes were no longer consoling. Father looked away from Sean and said, "It won't matter soon, anyway," he sighed and looked back at Sean, "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice," he began to walk to the door, "you and your sister will be mine by morning, whether you like it or not."

Sean thought he was going to be sick. Father wasn't leaving--only pulling in a rolling cot. He grabbed Sean's other hand. Sean's protesting struggles could have been only a minor nuisance for all he knew, Father gave no sign he noticed. He strapped Sean's arm down to the cot with a leather strap, and this time with great difficulty got Sean on his back in the cot, where he continued to restrain him, replacing the heavy metal on his left wrist for the tight leather.

Sean fought with all his strength but finally admitted defeat as they rolled into the hallway.

"Where are we?" he asked hoarsely.

Father laughed deep in his throat, "We're in Jump City's lovely Mental Institution. They have the best bedside manner, don't you think?"

It was a horrible sound, hearing someone laugh at your expense. "Where is Jessie?" Sean asked instead of trying to hit him, even though it would have been futile.

Father actually looked like the answer pained him, "Your sister, I'm afraid shares your stubborn disbelief. She too will have to start over; you'll see her in a moment."

"Start over?" Sean did his best to look Father in the face, but since he was pushing the cot from behind it turned out to be almost impossible.

"You'll know soon enough my boy," Father was infuriatingly calm.

"I'm not _your boy_," Sean was a little surprised by the anger in his voice, but he didn't care, it felt good to be angry, instead of scared and unsure, and to have a good reason, "I don't want to be _your boy_. The Titans will be here and so will Batman, whether _you_ like it or not, I won't be _your boy_ anymore."

Before he was even finished with the last sentence, before he could even register what was happening, Sean was again starring at Father's furious eyes. He was towering over Sean with a twisted smile. Father put a hand on either side of Sean's cot, as if making absolute sure Sean couldn't escape his wrath and began to speak in a low hiss.

"The _Titans_?" he said the word with complete disgust, and chuckled quietly, "Those incapable brats, left you, their only source of order and leadership, to drown in the bottom of a river. Or don't you recall _that_ pleasant little moment of `what once was'?"

Father's hand was suddenly around Sean's forearm, and the freezing sensations ripped their way all the way up his arm, down his spine, filtering into his mind like so many spiders. Images and sensations suddenly slammed into Sean.

_The first was falling; falling and not being afraid, it was only water he'd hit after all. But then realizing what was falling in after him; a large, fully loaded box, forcing him down into the murky, cold water. But before he hit, Beast Boy saw him. Good. They would help. Sean was trying to reach for his waist . . . no, that wasn't right . . . Robin was reaching for his belt, but the crate was on his chest, his bottom half pinned underneath. No way to reach the belt. _

_But it was okay. Beast Boy had seen him fall. He just had to hold on for a little longer, someone would come._

_But they didn't. Robin was slowly losing consciousness, and with it the air rushed out of his lungs as he tried in vain to push the box away. Hurry up, guys, please . . . He couldn't help it; he sucked in a breath. His chest seemed to cave in as water rushed into his body, and the pressure of the box was too much, and he was going to drown . . ._

_Somehow Robin found himself on the bank of the river coughing and gasping for air. _

"_It's alright my boy. You're safe now," the voice didn't belong to any of his team, but he welcomed the soothing tones. Robin finally looked up at his rescuer through his half unconscious state._

"_Wh-who are . . . you?" Robin gasped, he still couldn't sit up. His head was in the man's lap, and the man had his hand against Robin's cheek. It felt nice. Comforting._

"_I'm the one who will be taking care of you from now on . . ." _

Sean came back to his senses gasping like he had just been pulled from the river. Father had taken his hand away and was speaking again in that low hiss.

"Yes, they forgot that little detail didn't they? I'm the only one who cared enough to pull you out, and this is how you repay me." He was lying. The Titans would never do that.

It was hard for him to speak but Sean managed, "They wouldn't . . . they'll come . . . with Batman . . . and more . . ."

Sean was cut off by Father's laughter, "The Bat? How do you think you caught my eye in the first place child? _Batman_ abandoned you long ago." Once again his hand was on Sean's arm. Sean didn't want to see this, but in some part of his mind he knew this was what was tugging at him every time he looked at Bruce, and that this would hurt.

_It started with pain. Not the pain he thought was coming, but actual, physical pain. It was Joker's bullet in his chest he knew, but he couldn't do anything. The sensation ended abruptly. The next weren't what interested him. Richard waking up in the hospital, Bruce and Alfred standing over him._

_Coming home, healing, trying to train again, all of it was a blur in comparison to the last image._

"_Bruce . . . when can I go out with you again?" Richard asked tentatively one evening in the cave. It was a very touchy subject with Bruce for some reason. He'd asked several times already, but he'd always been told it was too soon. This time he made sure he was healthy, in perfect condition before he asked, he even had the doctor's approval of such physical activity this time. _

_Bruce stiffened slightly, you would've had to really know him to see it. It took a long time for Bruce to answer, then he finally turned to look at Richard, and took a deep breath, "You won't be."_

"_But Bruce," Richard whined, not fully understanding, "I'm perfectly healthy. I even have Alfred's approval for goodness sake. I even got him to write me a note, wanna see?" that last statement normally would have made Bruce laugh. But he didn't. _

_Bruce wasn't looking at him anymore, he was studying the computer screen, "I know Richard. But that's not the point," for the first time The Batman was having a hard time finding words._

_Richard was scared, "Then what do you mean?"_

"_I mean," another pause, "there will be no more Robin." He said the words coolly, like he would speak to a business partner._

_Richard couldn't speak for a moment, his insides were exploding, but when he did all he could manage was, "Why?" What had he done? Was this his fault? He could fix it . . . but he couldn't get any of it to come out of his mouth._

_Bruce spoke brusquely, "It is becoming too much of a liability . . ." he stopped short; he turned to look at Richard. Bruce opened his mouth to speak again, but Richard didn't let him. _

"_Liability?" he said, "I'm a liability to you?" he wasn't good enough . . ._

"_Richard . . ." Bruce tried to call him back but his voice only made Richard run faster up the stairs. No. No, no, no, no, this was wrong. He passed Alfred on the way up and vaguely recalled the kindly butler say his name. He ran up to his room slamming and locking his door. He sat on his bed while sickening thoughts settled into his mind._

_He had failed. _

_It was all his fault._

_He wasn't good enough for Batman._

_He wasn't good enough for Bruce . . ._

* * *

"Come on," Diana started for the door with Raven close behind, "We'll have to hurry if we're going to be of any help." Raven only nodded.

If they were fast enough they would probably reach the mental institution just as the others were going in the doors. The flight was quiet and held a tension that only tightened as they landed in front of the abandoned building. The Bat's car was already there as they'd expected so they immediately went in. The chain and padlock on the door were already broken, in the back of her mind Raven was hoping it wasn't one of their team who broke it.

Raven opened her communicator to contact Cyborg, praying that she wasn't putting him into danger by doing so. He picked up.

"Hey Rae, you just get here?" He asked, rather loudly too. She suspected they hadn't found anything.

"Yes," she deadpanned, "Where are you now?"

"Go down the right hallway, you should run right into us. Superman heard some weird buzzing noise a minute ago that we can't identify. We're going to check it out now." He hung up.

* * *

"Sean? Sean, come on, snap out of it," Jessie's voice finally brought him to consciousness. He must have passed out in that last onslaught of Father's. Sean flinched at the still raw images in his mind. He turned his head to look at Jessie, remembering that he couldn't sit up for the leather straps.

She was tied down too, to an identical cot to his, "You okay?" he asked. He voice was more of a croak.

Her mouth twisted into a wry smile, "Define `okay'."

Sean didn't offer a definition because his new surroundings caught his attention. He had to stifle his initial reaction to groan or scream . . . or both and more.

The first one had to notice was the color. The whole room glowed a deep blue, like it was completely under arctic water. It was a huge circular room, with tables crowded neatly with medical looking equipment pushed against the walls. The walls were covered in wires and cords all meshed with each other like a living plant. Stranger things covered the walls wherever bare wall could be found. Strange symbols Sean didn't recognize, and probably didn't want to. But none of that compared to the center piece of the whole operation.

A stone. Its shape, size, and texture would have been considered totally plain if one were to see it any other way. It was the color that made it frightening. It was sapphire blue, beautiful, with a hairline crack right down the center. Not only that but it was moving. No, the rock wasn't moving, just pulsing, like a heartbeat. It radiated from within the object, a white center, beating, breathing. Sean could only stare.

"Like it?" Father's voice was close to his ear, so close Sean jumped but didn't bother to try and turn. The straps were unbelievably tight.

"Don't be frightened," Father was saying as he walked up to the stone, _yeah, right,_ "It won't take that long. Not as long as last time anyway, now that you've been exposed." He looked at the both of them as their eyes burned holes into him. He smiled anyway, like he was telling them how well they were doing in school, "You'll both be alright soon, don't worry, I'll make you better."

"Funny," said Jessie, with the same edge in her voice she used when Sean was on her nerves, "I'd be willing to bet we'd have been perfectly _fine_ if you'd left us alone in the first place."

Father was still smiling when he turned to Jessie. He starred at her for so long it made her squirm in her bindings. When he finally spoke his voice was the low hiss again.

"If I had left you alone, my sweet girl, you'd still be a rock, hiding from the world, literally buried in self-pity," Father's voice took on a disgusted tone, "Neither one of you realize what I did for you . . ." He turned away watching the stone, and seemed to come to a conclusion, "But it won't matter. You and the rest of the world won't make such mistakes anymore." He reached out and stroked the stone with one finger.

"What do you mean?" Sean asked. His curiosity could always get the better of him. When Father didn't answer he continued, "That's the stone, isn't it?" Jessie had told him the story Raven told her, and Raven had explained the stones nature. It held, not just the power of one individual of that race, but of thousands. It was a time bomb to anyone who tried to use it, "You can't do what your ancestor's did. That thing is too unstable; it would kill you and anyone else it affects . . ."

"Don't you think I know that?" Father said coolly, he had moved to one of the tables with his back to them, "What do you think all of this is for?" He waved his hand to indicate the calculated mess of unidentifiable equipment, "I've been working for years trying to find a way to only extract what I need from the stone." He turned to look at Sean, his voice taking a lecture tone, "And that's being a bit dramatic; saying it would _kill_ me or anyone else. Honestly Sean where do you get these ideas?"

Jessie scoffed then, "You're the one holding us against our will and you call _us_ dramatic?"

"It's for your own good, Jessica, for everyone's own good," Father said simply.

"You keep saying that!"Jessie exploded, "What does that mean? What, for goodness sake has mankind done to deserve being controlled against their will?"

Father shook his head, "What _hasn't_ mankind done, my dear? Fighting mostly. Destroying themselves out of hate and fear, among other catastrophes. We are going to rectify their mistakes," Father started towards one of the doors, "Now stay put, I have to make sure everything's ready."

* * *

They'd been through the whole place. They searched every crack on every floor (and there were twelve, by the way) and found nothing. They had just finished searching the basement; it was truly hopeless.

"What now?" Beast Boy asked. He'd sat down on the dirt covered concrete floor of the basement with his chin in his hands. Raven just shook her head. "Oh, come on!" Beast Boy looked around at them all, "There's got to be _something_." No one answered.

Starfire was the only one moving, pacing rather loudly over the floor, a dust trail in her wake. They all watched her, just to have something to focus on.

"How does someone just vanish like that?" Cyborg stood next to the league members, mostly talking to himself.

"They do not," Starfire stopped pacing and turned to face him, "Such things do not happen." She stiffened in that stubborn way and stamped her foot a little, "People do not just go away, they have to be some_place_," She stamped her foot again. Cyborg always thought that it looked very childish when she did that . . .

_Wait a second_, "Star, do that again," Cyborg said. Every one gave him a weird look, and Starfire said after a minute, "Do what again, Cyborg?"

"Stomp your foot. In the same place, again," He walked up to her and starred at the floor under her foot. The dirt and dust on the floor was so thick one really could only see parts of the concrete underneath, and if he was right . . .

Star stamped her foot again. A hollow sound emitted from the floor. Hollow. The floor was supposed to be solid cement. "Help me with this," Cyborg said to no one in particular. He started to wipe away the packed dirt on the floor . . . to reveal a metal door built into the floor.

Superman was the first to say something, "If Martin had used this we'd have seen it earlier. He couldn't have gone down there himself _and_ covered the opening again."

"Unless a certain ex-wife did it for him and then ran for it," Batman said as he opened the heavy door. Behind it was a ladder, and down that was what looked like an old subway tunnel, no longer operational, judging by the desolated look.

Now they were getting somewhere.

* * *

"Sean . . . Sean it's not working," Jessie said finally, "We'll have to try something else."

Sean tried one more time to pull some slack into the straps. No use, "What we need is something sharp to cut through it."

"Oh is that all?" Jessie snapped, "My bad. I forgot my machete at the last psycho's lab we were in." she rolled her eyes as Sean glared at her.

"That's okay," said a very cheery voice from the door way, "We forgot ours too." A green beaver hopped onto Jessie's cot and began to chew at her straps as Batman cut away at Sean's with a baterang. The other Titans and the rest of the League stood ready for a fight behind them.

"What took you so long?" Jessie asked when she was able to stand and Beast Boy was human again.

BB shrugged, "We had a slight detour, but don't worry about it lets get you out of . . ." The changeling's voice choked out as he gasped and suddenly fell to the ground. The blue glow in the room intensified.

Sean watched as the others went ridged as Beast boy had, all of them clutching their heads in pain. Sean immediately knelt next to Batman, "What's happening?" He asked no one, really, but got a cold answer in return.

"Their minds are slowly shutting down, my boy," Sean looked up to see Father standing over the pulsing stone. His green eyes stood stark against the blue glow. Sean knew there was no wind but something was causing objects in the room to move, fall off tables and shatter, the wires on the walls began to make that loud buzzing noise again, it rose to the point of screeching, the strange symbols began to burn white-hot. Father was drawing power from the stone.

"Stop it!"Sean tried to shout over the noise, but Father only grinned. He started walking towards them.

"It's all right, Sean. You won't have to worry about these horrible people anymore," Father was getting too close. Batman gasped again. Sean looked down at him. He didn't know what to do. But then, what could he do? No one could help him, and he was no match for Father as long as Father had . . .

Sean looked up. Father had stopped at the edge of the writhing group, but that's not what Sean was searching for. It was only half-way across the room, all Sean had to do was get past Father. But how would he break it once he got there . . .

Batman had dropped the baterang. It had slid up under the cot.

Sean looked up at Jessie and saw that she was staring at him. Not scared, but angry. Sean grabbed the baterang from under the cot, "Think you can cover me?" Jessie grinned wickedly at him, and jumped up. Father's grin disappeared as Jessie tackled him to the ground.

Sean only had one chance at this. He ran as soon as Jessie and father hit the ground. He tried to go around them or jump over them, but Father grabbed his ankle, dragging him to the floor. Sean fell hard on his shoulder and felt the baterang dig into his hand as he turned to look at Carlisle Martin. He had kicked Jessie away and still had Sean by the ankle . . . until Sean kicked him square in the face with his other foot. Father let go with a screech of agony that rose over the storm of noise around them.

Sean scrambled to his feet again and raced towards the stone. He could hear Father behind him, already in pursuit, but it was too late. With all his strength Sean jammed the end of the baterang into the hairline crack in the stone, and everything seemed to happen at once.

The crack in the stone widened, glowing white-hot. Every bit of equipment seemed to shatter, even the wires embedded in the walls split open. The screaming noises became unbearable, but it no longer came from the wires. It was coming from Father. He writhed on the floor clutching his head in agony just as he had made the others do.

Sean never really knew what happened next, except that it hurt. He was still holding onto the baterang jammed into the stone, and suddenly felt something hit him . . . hard. He didn't see anything, but it made him let go. The force pushed him back, slamming him onto the floor.

Sean didn't feel the ground beneath him. He couldn't move, couldn't feel anything. All he could do was watch. Memories flooded back to him, threatening to drown him, even the memories Father showed him. _He wasn't lying._ With every image that flowed into his mind another shock wave hit him.

_His parents. Flying. Death. Scared. Bruce. Comfort. Batman. Fighting. The Titans. _

_Falling. _

Slowly the memories settled, and Richard began to find his way out of the flood. He would be okay now. He could feel his heart beat, every breath. And slowly his senses tuned into what was around him. First he noticed was someone supporting his head. The storm was gone; the place was quiet, except for someone speaking. The voice still seemed distant to him. They were saying his name.

"Sean. Wake up, Sean . . ." he was pretty sure it was Bruce, but it was like hearing him through a wad of cotton. He wanted to open his eyes and tell him he was fine, to shut-up, his head hurt. But he couldn't. He was falling again, not into a flood, but just to sleep. That's all he wanted; to sleep. Bruce was still talking, among Starfire's, and other voices, but he couldn't answer.

He would just sleep now. They were using the wrong name anyway.

* * *

**A/N: **Finally! This chapter took forever, so I hope you like it, and I hope I wasn't being too obvious there.

By the way, I'm starting to lose track of questions I have and have not answered (I should have written them down, but I don't usually think that far ahead, sorry) so if you review, just let me know, and I'll do my best to explain everything. I read through it several times, but I still may have missed something.

Until again . . .


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** I really did not expect this story to exceed ten chapters and here we are at fourteen. Cool. This chapter may be pretty short but don't read beyond this one unless you're prepared for some serious Richard and Bruce fluff: You Have Been Warned.

Oh, and I cannot bring myself to call him Dick, don't ask why, I would just laugh every time I typed it.

I own nothing. Well a few, but they're the evil people no one likes to talk about.

* * *

**Chapter 14**

He was floating. Just floating somewhere between conscious states. He could fall into either one, but he really wasn't sure about either of them.

The first seemed innocent enough. It felt like sleep, deep peaceful sleep. It would be easy to fall into that. He was so exhausted, he felt as though he could just sleep forever and ever, endlessly dreaming, just breathing.

But that was just it; that's what made him hesitate to dive into that pool. Forever. He was afraid he may not wake up. Surely a sleep that deep wasn't natural. He couldn't be sure of anything there.

The second pool was one he knew would hurt, and _that_ he could be sure of. He could feel a distant pounding that kept pace with his heart. The pain wasn't very real to him yet but every nerve in his body told him if he took even one step in that direction, it would be. It wasn't really the physical pain that held him back though. It was once again the fear of uncertainty, not knowing who he would wake up to find standing over him. That single thought scared him to death.

It felt like an eternity as he lay there and fought with himself. The whole while he could hear people speaking . . .

_How much longer . . ._

_I told you, it's up to them . . . _

_Do you think they'll be the same when they wake up . . ._

_We can't be sure . . ._

_We just have to wait . . ._

Who were they waiting on? On him? Why? Why did he deserve someone, _anyone_, to wait for him? He felt very confused. Then he realized something. That's what the second pool offered---- understanding. He had a tie breaker. He could sleep all he wanted when he found some answers.

With an ecstatic leap he dove head first into the second pool. When he did it was like a flood gate opened, and thousands of sensations and images and . . . _memories_ rushed towards him. Perfect. Unfortunately, in his excitement, he forgot about the physical aspect. The throbbing pain that had been holding back before hit him full force. He was suddenly aware of his throat as he let out a tiny groan and felt his whole body stiffen. _Man that hurt._ Well at least he knew for certain he was alive, and that he was lying on a soft bed. He figured they had changed his clothes to one of those scrubs they kept in the hospital wing.

His slight sound of distress must have alerted the others in the room. Someone touched his shoulder.

"Sean?" He knew that voice. Starfire. Thank goodness; he was among friends. She sounded so tiny. But she used the wrong name.

He smiled to himself, hoping it didn't show on his face. He would mess with them a little before he opened his eyes. He let himself relax again, becoming a rag doll.

They were quiet for a long time before another tried to rouse him, this time it was Cyborg, "C'mon Sean, wake up already." _Not until one of you gets it right. _

A more irritated voice spoke, well he supposed she was irritated, Raven spoke in a monotone, "Sean, you've been lying there for nearly three days. It's time to get up." _Oh, come on, one of you has to get it._

They were quiet again until Beast Boy said timidly, "Sean?" he waited for any reply, but when he got none he said sadly, "Maybe we only imagined it." _Don't give up that easy!_

His head ache was slowly letting up, but not nearly as much as he wanted. On top of that he was frustrated. _At least throw a guess. Anyone?_ The hand on his shoulder shifted a little. He couldn't see it because his eyes were still closed, but he was pretty sure he could sense someone lean over him and say in a very low, rumbling voice, "Richard? Are you messing with us? You know I hate that."

Richard couldn't help it; he cracked one eye open and smiled at Bruce, "Just keeping you on your toes, Bats." Richard laughed at the face Bruce made, but abruptly stopped, it hurt his head.

The Titans all smiled, even Raven let herself grin. Diana and Clark stood behind them, also happy to see him conscious. Before he could say anything more though, Richard found himself crushed into Starfire's signature hug, "Oh, Robin, we have missed you so much and we were so worried and we thought you wouldn't wake up and . . ." she went on and on. She finally slowed down enough to take a breath and Richard somehow got his arms out of the choke-hold and hugged her back, "I missed you too, Star," He sighed.

When she finally let go Cyborg asked, "How do you feel?"

Rich had to think about that for a second, "My head hurts . . . and I'm kinda hungry." Suddenly he looked around him, "Where's Terra?"

His question seemed to alarm the others. Beast Boy looked across the room at the adjacent bed, "She-- she was right there! What . . ." right then something small flew through the air and popped BB right in the head. It didn't look like it hurt him, but it shocked him none the less, "What the . . .?" He picked up a little pebble just as a giggle was heard from the doorway. Terra's head stuck through as another few pebbles flew towards Beast Boy and landed harmlessly in his hand.

Apparently while everyone was watching Richard, she'd planned more of an entrance, "Did ya' miss me too?" Suddenly Terra was in a literal bear hug, a green bear hug that is, "I'll take that as a yes." Starfire would not be out done though. As soon as BB let go Terra also found herself in Star's grip, even Raven lent her a tiny smile, her way of saying, _well done. _Terra looked very weak when she was finally allowed to stand on her own, despite her smile. Beast Boy helped her back towards the infirmary bed.

Now that Robin thought about it he felt unusually sore and weak too. Maybe it was all in his head.

"So both of you remember . . . everything?" Raven stepped forward, "Who you are, us, and everything?"

Terra and Richard nodded slowly. "I'm kind of in the mood for some anchovy pizza," Terra said looking at BB.

"Well, she's fine," Beast Boy rolled his eyes, looking even happier.

"So what happened?" Robin blurted out. He'd just registered Raven's words. He'd been out for three days. Heck he hadn't even seen what happened to the stone.

"Yeah," Terra said, "Don't leave us hangin' here." She purked up even more.

"Okay, um," Cyborg looked at Raven, "Where to start?"

"You definitely did the right thing stabbing the stone," Raven said, then crossed her arms, "Even if it was _incredibly_ stupid. Do you have any idea what a stunt like that could've done to you?" She glared at both of them in turn.

"But they're fine," Superman said; always the one to give wide skirt to any unnecessary fighting, "and that's what matters," His eyes flicked over Robin again, "but you did give us quite a scare."

"Anyway," Beast Boy said excitedly, for he loved telling a good story, "The thing totally . . . blew up . . . or something, after you stabbed it. It was a pretty cool explosion."

"It wasn't an explosion, you idiot," Raven scathed. She glared at BB for a moment, then switched her gaze back to Robin and Terra, "As I have explained to our less-than-intelligent friend several times, you released a lot of energy and power when you broke the stone. All of that power just . . . gushed out, I guess, it was more a tidal wave than an explosion." This time she started to look a little uncertain, and Richard saw her eyes flicker to Diana for help.

The Amazonian nodded, "Yes, that's about as accurate as we can be about it really. We were more concerned about you two at the time."

At Richard and Terra's puzzled faces, Starfire cut in, "You both . . . um . . . passed away . . ."

"Passed out, Star," Beast Boy said helpfully, "Yeah, you both kinda went all rigid, and your eyes got really wide and creepy looking." He seemed to shiver a little at the memory, and glanced at Terra, "And even though the . . . tidal wave (he threw a glance at Raven) didn't really affect us, it kind of knocked you two down."

"And what about Carlisle Martin?" Richard asked. He didn't feel like discussing what had happened to him, it wasn't exactly pleasant to think about. Really he didn't know what to make of it.

Thankfully Raven seemed to understand, "Well, that's . . . a little bit harder to explain," she stared at the floor for a while, and then said slowly, "I thought—at first—that if the stone was broken, it would cause horrible damage—if not death—to anyone with any mental connection with it. But the power contained within it seemed to only want what was left of the ancient blood." She looked up at them finally and said gravely, "Carlisle Martin got what he wanted. Unfortunately, all the power contained in that stone was not taken from one person alone."

"What do you mean?" Terra asked.

"Well," Diana spoke this time, also choosing her words carefully, "According to the legends, when the stone was filled with all that energy, it was the power from _thousands_ of minds. Martin is the _only_ remaining blood-relative of his family. All that power is now contained in Carlisle Martin," She paused, and then said, "Really there is no other way to put it. It drove him completely out of his mind. He has all the power he set out to get, and he can't even use it; it's too much for him to handle."

"So, he' still _alive_?" Richard asked incredulously.

Raven nodded, "If you can call it that. He probably doesn't even know his own name. He could be sitting on the moon for all he knows. He's in a special facility, right now, till the courts decide what to do with him."

"Wow," Terra gave a low whistle, "What happened to the stone?" She asked curiously.

Starfire shrugged, "It is now simply two halves of a normal earth rock."

"We also think," Cyborg said, "that Amelia Johnson ended up helping Carlisle after all. She must have helped him transport you two down that tunnel safely, then came back up to cover his tracks. All his labs were stripped clean, his home too; she's probably the one who made sure of that. We can only speculate though, we still can't find her." He paused and sighed, "You gotta hand it to her; she's good at what she does."

Richard's head hurt even more than before. He leaned back into the pillows as Beast Boy suddenly turned to Terra. Looking very timid he asked, "Um, Terra, can I ask you a question?"

Terra smiled weakly at him again, "You just did. But I'll permit one more."

"Why couldn't we revive you?" Beast Boy didn't smile back. He watched Terra look down and take a deep breath.

"Because," she said quietly, barely above a whisper, "I didn't want you to, B."

"How . . ."Beast boy's voice trailed off, but Terra caught the meaning.

"I have powers over earth, B," she said matter-of-factly, "all I had to do was make sure the rock around me didn't vibrate with my heart beat. That's how I avoided Cyborg's detectors. Raven was a little trickier. I'm still not sure how I pulled that one off, but somehow the earth seemed to make me . . . dead to the rest of the world."She didn't look him in the eye as she said, "I didn't want to hurt you anymore. So when Dr. Martin came along . . . he said that I could start over . . . I'm sorry, Beast Boy." She said the last words in a whisper and looked up.

To her surprise Beast Boy was grinning at her, "And people call me air-headed."

Terra put on a face of mock offense, "Are you calling me stupid?"

"You are if you believed you weren't welcome back," Beast Boy jabbed. They continued with their little fight.

Cyborg shook his head, and then looked back at Richard, "I'll go get you guys something to eat . . . and some aspirin." He walked towards the door. Star flew after him, saying, "I must try again to make a cake . . ."

"Not without an extra pair of eyes on you, you're not," Raven said and hurried after the alien.

Beast Boy didn't dare leave Terra's side, but was mortified by the idea that Cyborg might be cooking meat. Terra of course noticed his dilemma, "Hey, B, you know I haven't seen a good herbivore verses carnivore battle in a while . . ." before Terra knew it she was being whisked out of the room on the back of a grinning tiger.

"This I must see," Diana said, "Coming Supes?" Clark nodded and with one last glance at Robin walked out to watch the show.

"I think," Richard looked up at Bruce, who hadn't said anything since Richard woke up, "maybe I should supervise that."

"You just don't want to stay in bed," Batman smirked in that all-knowing fashion that could drive Richard up the wall. Richard only grinned at him and attempted his famous puppy-eyes he perfected for just such times. Bruce shook his head and turned to get a wheel chair from the corner.

"What's that for?" Richard frowned at the chair.

"You don't even look like you should be conscious," Bruce said, wheeling the horrid contraption to the bedside, "C'mon, humor me." When Richard still glared stubbornly at the chair he changed tactic, "It's this or I carry you."

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

With a little huff Richard carefully climbed into the chair and allowed Bruce to push him through the many hallways (not before annoyingly placing a blanket around him).

"Richard," Batman said after a few minutes of silence, "Might I ask why Carlisle Martin picked _you_ as well?"

Richard tried not to show signs of agitation at the question. He didn't want to answer it, though. Bruce waited patiently.

Finally Robin just said, "Bruce, I was half drowned when Martin found me," he tried to make it sound like a steady answer, but it came out a little weak and trembly, "I don't know what happened anymore than you do."

That was probably the lamest lie he'd ever told. A three year old could see through that, no doubt Batman could. Richard just sat waiting for Bruce to tell him to get a grip. But he didn't. He just pushed the chair through the hall.

Right before they went into the kitchen to join the others, he finally said, "If you're sure, Robin."

* * *

This one's a shorty. I guess it was sort of the epilogue. But there's another chapter after this that's kind of the epilogue too. So, this is the pre-epilogue epilogue. Never-mind, hope you enjoyed chapter fourteen. And like I said, the next one is just sort of something I've been wanting to do for a while, so don't read it if you don't like those little family moments between Richard and Bruce (but it does go along with this story, and it's a work in progress).

Please R&R, thanks.

One more thing (I know, I'm freakin' annoying) if I still forgot to answer a question, let me know and I'll find a way to make it right.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** I know, I'm late, but it's Christmas for goodness sake, and I'm having a bit of a block. Here goes, anyway. I already warned you not to read this unless you like fluff---plus I couldn't find a reason not to attach this to the story. You've been warned.

I own nothing. I don't even think Santa could help with this one.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Epiloge**

"He's being completely unreasonable!"

"He just wants to make sure you don't hurt yourself," Bruce said calmly for what felt like the millionth time. His ward was currently sitting in his bed in his old room in Wayne manor, looking absolutely mutinous.

Alfred, though usually very accurate in the diagnosis and treatment of his two charges, had forbidden Richard to move from this spot until further notice. Richard, despite Alfred's incredible track record of being right about these things, did not want to give in quietly. Not that anyone expected him to of course.

Much to Richard's annoyance, Raven (with the whole-hearted agreement of the rest of the Titans) had said point-blank that Robin needed a break. The same was said to Terra (who also met this with a full arsenal of arguments). Neither of them won their respective battles.

No matter how hard Robin or Terra tried they could not gloss over the facts: getting over what happened was going to take some time. Though for a few days after they awoke, Terra and Robin seemed fine, it wasn't long before the others noticed something the two weren't telling.

It was at the most random of times as well. Terra would be sitting and laughing at Beast Boy's jokes, and suddenly become very quiet, staring into space for minutes at a time, and just as suddenly begin to laugh or talk again as though nothing had happened. Even her powers seemed to be on the frits. She could only lift small rocks, and anytime she tried anything bigger, it either remained motionless, or lifted a few feet and exploded.

Robin, who anyone had only seen trip a handful of times if any, nearly fell down three flights of stairs and didn't even remember walking down them. Raven had finally drawn the line when Cyborg and Starfire found him standing over the kitchen sink, bleeding heavily from one hand, staring blankly at a broken glass on the floor with absolutely no idea why he was in the kitchen in the first place.

Terra eventually consented, however grudgingly, to taking a short break, "At least for Christmas," as she had said, "After New Year's, no promises."

Robin on the other stubborn and defiant hand, saw absolutely no reason not to at least be training. After he nearly decapitated himself on one of the Titan's obstacle courses Batman got another call about his ward.

Thus, Richard was spending Christmas at home. And, though he and Terra (Robin made a call to the Tower every evening) were steadily showing improvement (much to Raven's relief, for this meant it was only short-term damage) there were occasions when most thought it would benefit both their health to just stay in bed.

Alfred had this exact thought about an hour ago when Richard had another clumsy episode, again at the top of the stairs. Richard hadn't fallen the whole flight this time, but he still didn't manage to catch himself till the half-way mark. Alfred had, unfortunately seen the whole thing (according to him Richard had another zone-out-moment, then tried to walk down the stairs in this state) and sent Richard straight to the safety of his room. Bruce was called up a moment later to _keep_ him in there.

"He's treating me like a little kid," Richard mumbled now, leaning back on his pillow.

Bruce sighed, deciding to just drop it, "How do you feel?"

Richard threw him a look that clearly said _I wish people would quit asking me that_, "Fine."

"Good," Bruce said and sat down on the edge of the bed, "You still having any memory trouble?" he asked vaguely.

"No," Richard said through clenched teeth, "I can tie my shoe-laces all by myself too."

It was Bruce's turn to give a look, "So then you remember what day it is?"

Richard sighed, resigned to answering stupid questions, "It's December 24."

Bruce nodded, "Christmas Eve . . ."

"Bruce," Richard punched his pillow into a more comfortable position, "are you trying to lead up to something here, or are you just going to start your annual tradition of complaining about the holidays?"

It was true. Bruce made a specific point to remain as secluded as possible during Christmas. He would only participate in decorating the manor after Richard and Alfred, dragged, begged, threatened, and blackmailed him into it.

"I was not about to complain," Bruce said while pulling something from behind him, "I just wanted to give you something . . . you know . . . for Christmas and all that," he finished awkwardly.

Richard stared at his guardian for a moment, stunned. Obviously Bruce had never failed to give him something for Christmas, but Bruce had always saved his gift for the very last on Christmas day. Richard suspected so as to hold off the moment Richard would thank him by saying, "See, Christmas isn't nearly as bad as you make it out to be Scrooge. I bet you'd planned this one for weeks . . ." or something along those lines in order to annoy Bruce to no end.

"You're giving me my gift a day early?" Richard asked, "Are you sure _you_ feel all right?"

"I'm fine . . ."

"Bruce, my second Christmas here I had to get you to come downstairs to open presents by jumping on you while you were still asleep, and keep jumping until Alfred finally dumped a glass of cold water on your head."

"Yes, well . . ."

"The year after that I had to tell you the Joker was on the loose again, _just_ to get you out of bed."

"That doesn't . . ."

"The year after that . . ."

"Well this year is different, okay?" Bruce said over Richard's recount. When Richard didn't show signs of interrupting again (though Bruce saw the corners of his mouth twitch), Bruce continued, "Besides, you only get to find out what it is on one condition."

"Which is . . .?" Richard asked with an air of not really wanting to know.

Bruce leaned towards him a bit, "Tell me what happened."

"We've been over this, I told you I don't remember," Richard mumbled. He suddenly wasn't looking at Bruce anymore.

Bruce watched the boy for a moment. Richard didn't meet his eye, which only made Bruce that much more worried. He sighed, "Yes, you do Richard."

Richard glanced up at him, but still didn't say more.

"Do you think I'll be mad at you?" Bruce asked, wishing Richard would look up, but his ward continued to stare at his blankets. "Come on, Rich, talk to me. You've never had any trouble with it before," Bruce said trying to make Richard at least smile. It didn't work.

Richard just sat there, unnaturally quiet, for the longest time Bruce could remember. Finally, when Bruce was ready to give it up as a lost cause Richard said, so quietly Bruce wouldn't have believed it was him except he saw his lips move, "I'm not worried about you getting mad."

Bruce waited for Richard to go on, but when he didn't, Bruce asked, "Then what in the world were you afraid of? I think you've pretty much established the fact I can't keep you from being Robin."

Again it took Richard a while to answer, when he did he shrugged, "Just being stupid I guess," the boy made a brave attempt at a dismissive smile, but it faltered when he tried to look at Bruce again. "He said I could start over," Richard said a little suddenly. His voice sounded strange, mechanical.

"Start over?" Bruce repeated, again wishing Rich would look at him.

Richard nodded, "He said none of it would matter anymore. My parents, Batman and Robin, Slade . . . the . . . the reason you fired Robin . . ." his voice trailed off.

Again Bruce waited for Richard to continue, and again when he didn't, Bruce said, in the most bracing voice that didn't sound fake, "I thought that might be it."

Richard finally looked up from fiddling with a thread on his sheet, "W-what do you mean."

"Well, your friend, Raven, mentioned that you, and Terra of course, were picked because you felt guilty over something," Bruce looked at Richard and lowered his voice, "You felt guilty over what happened with the Joker."

Richard blinked and when he opened his eyes again they were back on the thread, "I . . . I didn't . . . It was my fault for believing him . . . just like nearly getting killed was my fault . . . I just . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry . . ." Richard sat there, frozen, his blue eyes trained on the thread, apparently the only thing safe to look at.

Bruce had had enough of this. He finally reached up and put a finger under Richard's chin, lifted it up so Richard was no longer staring at the sheet, but at something over Bruce's shoulder.

"Richard, you are probably the smartest, most promising kid I have ever met, so much that it worries me sometimes," Bruce said steadily, "But every once in a while, and please don't take this the wrong way, but sometimes I wonder whether you've suffered too many head injuries."

At last Richard blinked and met his guardian's eye, "What?"

Bruce sighed again, "Richard there is somebody to blame for what happened, perhaps a long list of people, Joker being at the very top of that list. But trust me you are not in fault here, and I can't figure out how you came to that conclusion. . . . Well, actually I have a few rough ideas but none of them hold water . . ."

"If I had been paying better attention . . ."

"To what? Joker's extra gun that _I_ didn't even realize was there . . ."

"I should have reacted faster . . ."

"You were in the middle of a fight with Joker's men! You didn't have time to react. Now stop it," Bruce said as Richard opened his mouth to argue, "This was not your fault," Bruce paused, and watched Richard for a moment. At least the kid was finally looking at him. "We're both idiots, aren't we?" Bruce said quietly.

Richard finally laughed and nodded, "Alfred was probably ready to kill us," he said, referring to the thousands of times the loyal old butler had walked in on their arguments, and tried time and again to talk since into them. "Now what about this present? It must be good, if even the Batman couldn't wait till tomorrow."

Bruce suddenly felt very apprehensive, "I guess it just depends on your point of view . . . My lawyers nearly had a heart attack."

And with that he handed a very confused looking Richard a flat, wrapped gift and watched as the boy tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a large manila envelope.

"You're not suing me are you . . .?" Richard asked as he undid the clip and read the top of the first page. Again Richard was quiet for a very long time. "Bruce, these are adoption forms," he said finally, looking up with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, well," Bruce cleared his throat and said, "It's just . . . something I wanted your opinion on. I figure . . . and Alfred agrees with me . . . that it's well over due . . . and you know it being the holidays and all that . . . couldn't think what else to get you . . . Stop grinning like that!" For Richard's smile seemed to be stretching with every word Bruce spoke.

"You old softy!" Richard was laughing now, "I knew it! Even you can't resist Christmas . . ." The rest of his sentence was lost as Bruce grabbed an extra pillow and chucked it at Richards head.

Richard caught it with a practiced hand as Bruce said, "I only wanted your input. There's no need for false accusations." He said it with a scowl but Richard was still smiling as he replied.

"I think it sounds like an excellent proposition, Mr. Wayne," He said in a very business-like tone.

The corners of Bruce's mouth twitched a bit, "I'll go and call the lawyer, then."

"Wait right there," Richard said as Bruce reached the door.

"What?" when Bruce turned back around Richard had a very mischievous smirk on his face.

"Don't you remember what day it is?" the boy asked.

"I think we've already covered this territory, Rich," Bruce said as he sat back down on the bed.

"Yes," Richard nodded in a very matter-of-fact way, "But you're forgetting a very important Christmas tradition. One that I personally hold very dear." When Bruce still looked rather clueless he continued, "Oh, come on. You remember."

Bruce thought and when suddenly dawned on him he got up immediately and said, "Oh, no. Not again . . ."

"Yes, Bruce. Our annual Christmas Eve movie; and I have a good one picked out this year," Richard got off the bed too, and took hold of Bruce's arm as his guardian made a break for the door.

Richard always managed to make Bruce sit through the corniest Christmas movies every year on Christmas Eve. He said it was his way of getting Bruce into the Christmas spirit, but Bruce swore the kid only did it to drive him crazy. Bruce didn't even think Richard really enjoyed these movies either, because usually about half-way through he would join Bruce in heartily making fun of it.

"Richard, is this really necessary?" Bruce asked as Rich locked the door and tried to make Bruce sit down.

"Yes! And don't worry, it isn't even a cartoon this year," Richard picked up the remote and flicked on the T.V. on the other side of his room.

Bruce didn't think that would make it any better, "What is it then?"

"A Christmas Carole _Musical_," Richard said as he plopped down on the bed next to Bruce.

"What! You mean I have to sit here and listen to a bunch of bad actors _sing_?"

"Yep."

"You know what? I've changed my mind." Bruce said grumpily.

"What do you mean?" Richard glanced up at him as the opening credits started.

"I'm sending you back to the circus," Bruce leaned back on Richard's pillows as the boy laughed.

Roughly an hour later Richard was asleep. Bruce figured Alfred was right to send him to his room; it was only eight o' clock. The movie had ended (_Finally_) and Bruce slowly got off the bed and pulled the covers over Richard. Then he noticed something.

Richard was still clutching the envelope with the adoption papers in his hand.

Bruce smiled to himself, then glanced at the door to make sure Alfred wasn't lurking there, leaned down and said, "Merry Christmas, little guy." He got up and walked out, but before he closed the door behind him, Bruce could have sworn he heard a muffled, "'Told ja so, dad."

Yeah, no way was he living this one down.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, I'm finished with my little cutesy moment, just needed to get that out of my system. Hope you enjoyed it, and a Merry Christmas to all of you, or Happy What-ever-you-celebrate!

Please remember to review!


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